SoftServe Bulgaria created a free digital solution to help the Ministry of Health and the Bulgarian Government in their efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. We have created a chatbot channel called COVID-19 Bulgaria in collaboration with Rakuten Viber. The main purpose of the channel is to provide information about the pandemic situation in the country and help users to receive important updates in real time. The channel provide: - the latest official news about COVID-19 in the country - issue and validation of a vaccination certificate - a quick online test based on the common symptoms of COVID-19 - pandemic situation statistics - useful information about COVID-19 vaccines Link to the application: https://chats.viber.com/covid19bulgaria

As a result of this project, more than 3. 5 million Viber users in Bulgaria can find up-to-date information about the pandemic situation and the measures taken by the government, as well as tips on how to protect themselves and their loved ones. 90 000 people actively use the app through their Viber accounts. The user experience of the app is intuitive, and users can subscribe by searching for "Covid-19 Bulgaria" from the main Viber screen.

The information channel was developed in 30 days and published on 30. 04. 2020. As the pandelic evolves, channel features are constantly upgrated to meet the needs of users. The latest added functionality is the ability for any user to issue and validate their own EU digital certificate that verifies coronavirus immunisation, ilness or testing. The channel will continue to deliver daily updates during the pandemic situation.

The need for a digital space for the latest and up-to-date information about the pandemic situation in the country led to the formation of a team and the successful partnership between three companies. Team members worked on this project on a voluntary basis. The following priorities have been considered during the implementation phase: - Selection of appropriate tools: MS Excel, OneDrive, SharePoint, Jira, TestRail, Postman, etc. ; - Providing detailed and focused documentation - Testing and development- high priority. - Fast and effective communication within the team. As part of the activities to promote the initiative, several articles were published in Bulgarian media. They reflect the advantages of the channel and encourage its usage to avoid a moment of misinformation among Bulgarian citizens about the pandemic. Publication on “TRUD” website: http://bitly.ws/obyB Publication on “NOVA” website: http://bitly.ws/obyD

As a result of this initiative, more than 3. 5 million Viber users in Bulgaria can find relevant information from official sources about latest status and measures taken by the government. The COVID-19 Bulgaria initiative is considered a great success due to the following results: -We created a successful partnership between business organizations to support the government in the fight against the crisis with COVID-19 -The chatbot channel was successfully developed and deployed among Viber users in a short period of time and with the participation of experts from three companies -18 team members volunteered for the initiative -90 000 people use the app through their Viber accounts -Reliable information on the COVID-19 situation is delivered to all subscribed users