Opera Helps Provide 120 Million Users in Africa With Official Information About COVID-19

The Norwegian browser developer has introduced an always-on speed dial and a dedicated news channel in the Opera Mini and Opera for Android browsers

Opera, is introducing an always-on speed dial to the Opera Mini and Opera for Android browsers to facilitate access to official news and information about COVID-19.

With this addition to the speed dial, Opera is providing its 120 million users across Africa with first-hand information from the local ministry of health about the actual increase of COVID-19 cases, tips and recommendations on how to reduce the risk of infection, and the latest governmental statements about lockdowns per country.

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“Our mobile browsers and news applications are used by nearly 120 million people across the African continent. By adding the COVID-19 speed dial into our mobile browsers, we are helping people make more informed decisions about how to deal with the pandemic in their local communities,” said Jørgen Arnesen, Head of Marketing and Distribution at Opera.

Information available in remote locations

With quarantine and isolation being implemented as measures to reduce the risk of increased cases, people across Africa are working remotely, accessing online entertainment services, and spending more time on the web.

In remote communities, this is becoming a challenge as networks get overcrowded, become slower, and consume more data – which already comes at high costs.

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“Connectivity barriers represent a major challenge for millions, especially during the current COVID-19 outbreak,” said Arnesen. “The Opera mobile products have unique capabilities to reduce some web page sizes to the extent that you can s********* 90% of your mobile data. This means that even on slow and congested networks, people will be able to access information about COVID-19.”

The speed dial with access to official information from local governments is available in the Opera browser for Android and the Opera Mini browser in 38 African countries.