New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS): With the novel coronavirus outbreak grabbing the attention of people worldwide, Google is now showing safety tips to people when they search "coronavirus".

Google is using resources from the World Health Organization to show people the safety tips and news and updates about the mysterious virus.

"Today we launched an SOS Alert w/ @WHO, to make resources about #coronavirus easily accessible. When people search for related info on @Google, they'll find the alert atop results page w/ direct access to safety tips, info, resources & Twitter updates from WHO," Google said in a statement on Friday.

In a bid to support coronavirus relief efforts in China, Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, also announced a $250,000 direct grant to the Chinese Red Cross.

"To help support relief efforts, @Googleorg issued a $250,000 direct grant to the Chinese Red Cross. Additionally we launched an internal campaign inviting Googlers to donate. So far, http://Google.org and Googlers have raised over $800K USD (3.5M rmb)," Google said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the new coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency after the death toll in China increased to 213 on Friday, with 9,692 cases confirmed in the country's 31 provincial-level regions.

As 98 confirmed cases were reported from 18 countries, outside China, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, told the media on Thursday night: "I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of 2019nCoV, not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries."