Amazon's Alexa will offer medical advice

Amazon's digital assistant Alexa will provide reliable health information from the National Health Service (NHS) website to the local users, the organisation has announced.

The NHS is collaborating with Amazon to help patients, especially the elderly, visually-impaired or those who cannot access the Internet through traditional means, to get professional, NHS-verified health information using voice commands, the official release notes.

Users can ask questions such as "Alexa, how do I treat a migraine?", "Alexa, what are the symptoms of flu?", or "Alexa, what are the symptoms of chickenpox". The aim is to reduce the pressure on the NHS by providing information for common illnesses.