Use this excellent COVID-19 coronavirus tracker and Microsoft Edge to keep informed

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Pin this excellent tracker app to your taskbar for simple one-click access to the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Covid 19 Trackerpic
Covid 19 Trackerpic (Image credit: Daniel Rubino/Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Johns Hopkins has an excellent COVID-19 tracker.
  • You can install the tracker as an app in Edge.
  • Easily keep up to date through transparent and reliable data.

It's hard to use social media or watch the news these days without hearing about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While some of it verges on unnecessary panic, there is reason to keep informed, especially with the amount of data and technology we have today.

The folks at Johns Hopkins created an interactive web-based dashboard that collects data from WHO, CDC, and China CDC to "visualize and track the reported cases on a daily timescale." The team at Johns Hopkins state that the purpose of the tracker is "… to provide the public with an understanding of the outbreak situation as it unfolds, with transparent data sources."

The website can be found at gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard and runs in your browser, including the new Microsoft Edge.

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

If you want to make the process simple, install the tracker as an app and pin it to your taskbar or Start menu. Doing so lets you run the tracker as a standalone app, which is much easier and useful than running in a tab. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard in the new Edge browser (opens in new tab).
  2. Select the browser menu '…' in the upper right corner in Edge.
  3. Navigate to Apps, and select Install this site as an app.

Covid Tracker Install

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
  1. Name the app if you want and hit Install.

Covid Tracker

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

You'll now be able to keep update to date on COVID-19's spread rate and the latest data with a single click.

If you'd like to help with finding therapies for COVID-19 check out how to donate your computer's processing power for the cause.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Executive Editor

Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.

15 Comments
  • Panic or not, this looks like a great tool.
  • It’s just a repurposed Santa tracker.
  • Red spots are placed in the center of affected counties and not where confirmed cases are, for example in Italy most of cases are in the very north, instead in Spain along the coast, Barcelona and Valencia mostly. So be aware of that.
  • That's not completely accurate. If you zoom in to some countries it absolutely shows you the specific location e.g. it's just north of Citta della Pieve in Italy. US is also accurate. I can see how Spain and Germany seemed to be in the center though.
  • For India also it's showing the reported cases in the middle instead of the accurate locations even after zooming. e.g. Most reported confirmed cases are around Delhi, Agra. But its showing a red spot near Nagpur city of state of Maharashtra.
  • I depends on the countries' assigned point level, read at the bottom: Point level: City level - US, Canada and Australia; Province level - China; Country level - other countries. All points shown on the map are based on geographic centroids, and are not representative of a specific address, building or any location at a spatial scale finer than a city.
  • Australia is all over the place but Malaysia is completely in the wrong spot. Correctly locating individual cases would be a bad idea.
  • I actually dug in to the underlying time series data this app uses from github. There's lat/long associated with each data point. For Italy, it's 43.0, 12.0 which puts right smack in the middle of the country. Same for USA too but it has city level points, they put the lat/long of downtown location of Seattle, NYC, LA, etc. So, it's not the fault of the app. The data needs updating for accurate location
  • That is one hell of a website. Very cool. Less fear-mongering, more science and graphs.
  • The only thing I don't like when installing web pages as an app is that the extensions I use for privacy and ad blocking don't work.
  • Are you sure? If you hit the "..." in the top of an installed website/app (in the title bar) you should be able to see your extensions including controlling them. The ones installed are on/used by default. I know only because I often have to disable Night Eye on some sites e.g. Instagram.
  • I didn't realize that. I haven't tried it for a while though. Was on a much earlier version when I did it. Excellent news.
  • Yeah, mine work fine.
  • I didn't even know that installing a site as an app possible...
  • This is very informative. Thanks Dan!