Google Maps in India Can Point Towards The Nearest COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Centres: Here’s How To Use

Google Maps is a nifty app that’s present on more phones than not, giving us a handy lifeline towards efficient and generally accurate navigation in uncharted routes. One of its key strengths also happen to be in helping users locate landmarks in the vicinity – from laundry services to schools and more. In June 2020, Google announced that Maps will also be able to help users locate the nearest Covid-19 testing centres across all platforms – Android, iOS and its web app. Now, Google Maps has also incorporated the ability to locate the nearest Covid-19 vaccination centres around users, which can help more individuals locate the closest vaccination centre and book an appointment through the central government’s CoWin portal.

How to locate Covid-19 test centres using Google Maps

The general procedure of using Google Maps to find the nearest Covid-19 test centres is similar for all platforms. Users can use this data to contact testing centres in advance, and given the spike in Covid-19 cases recently, users can use this information to contact the testing centres to request for at-home testing services and book them on priority. This would help users ensure that they get their tests in time. To use Maps for this:

1. Search for ‘Covid-19 test centres near me’ on your Maps app or browser page
2. The exact search string may vary slightly too, including ‘Covid test near me’, ‘Covid test centres’ and so on
3. The results panel will now show a list of Covid-19 testing centres in the vicinity, arranged by proximity
4. Each result also carries the contact info of the pathological laboratories, and a rating for how their services in general are

Finding Covid-19 vaccine centres on Maps

For vaccination centres, the overall procedure remains similar to finding test centres. However, users should note that vaccination services can only be availed by pre-registration on the CoWin app, which also shows a list of the closest vaccination centres prior to users booking an appointment.

1. To find the nearest ones, users can search for ‘Covid vaccine centres near me’ or any relevant variation of this search string
2. From the results page, users can find the contact details of the closest vaccination centres near them
3. The info can come handy to understand wait times at vaccination centre, clarity on documents required and other such information