Google CEO Sundar Pichai is matching a $1million donation from the corporation's charity arm to support families struggling due to the coronavirus crisis.

The donations from Mr Pinchai and Google.org are going to GiveDirectly, a charity which provides cash to needy families in the San Francisco Bay area.

Google - which has a headquarters in San Fransisco - hopes to raise a total of $5million for the charity with donations from staff and members of the public.

In a Tweet, Google.org wrote: We’re working with GiveDirectly to raise $5M to help support 5,000 families with direct cash transfers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

'We’re kicking it off with a $1M donation, plus a $1M contribution from Sundar Pichai - join us if you’re able.'

California has 22,348 confirmed coronavirus cases with 687 deaths from the rapidly-spreading bug.

With non-essential services shut, many of the areas 8 million residents are waiting for their government-issued $1,200 stimulus checks, CNBC reports.

Google already donated $1 million to local organizations in Mountain View, California, where it has another HQ.

The company was forced to cancel two large events in Mountain View last month - which would have increased traffic to local businesses - due to the crisis.

The company is planning on building a campus in the San Francisco Bay Area to hold 25,000 employees.