Apple Maps will soon show you how close you are to a COVID-19 testing site

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Apple Maps will soon show the locations of coronavirus testing centers near you. That’s good news in the midst of the pandemic, as one of the key directives from the World Health Organization (WHO) is to perform more testing to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

9to5Mac first noticed the newly introduced portal for medical providers to register themselves as COVID-19 test centers. Once verified, those testing centers will get added as points of interest on Apple Maps with a red glyph icon and a special banner in the Apple Maps card. It’ll also give you information on how to use the center, such as if it has drive-through testing or if you need to book an appointment beforehand.

Apple has also tweaked Apple Maps to put categories such as pharmacies, food delivery and hospitals at the top of the search page. In addition, Apple has partnered with Google to build a Bluetooth-based tracking system aimed at contact tracking once someone has tested positive for the coronavirus. This includes APIs for both operating systems, and in May, an API that enables iOS and Android to talk to each other.

If you’re a health professional involved in testing for COVID-19 and want to be included on Apple Maps, you can contact Apple here.

What do you think? Glad to see this feature being added to Apple Maps? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.