diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ad7d42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+FROM frolvlad/alpine-java:jre8-slim
+EXPOSE 8000
+COPY target/covid19-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT/*.* ./
+ENTRYPOINT ["java","-jar","covid19.jar"]
+
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4ba1a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+version: "2.1"
+
+volumes:
+  files:
+    driver: local
+  mysql:
+    driver: local
+  backup:
+    driver: local
+
+services:
+  covid19-service:
+    build: ./
+    expose:
+      - "8000"
+    restart: always
+    ports:
+      - 8000:8000
+    depends_on:
+      - db
+    environment:
+      - COVID19_SERVICE_DOMAIN="localhost"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "/usr/bin/healthcheck"]
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 5
+    volumes:
+      - files:/mnt/data
+
+  db:
+    image: webhippie/mariadb:latest
+    restart: always
+    expose:
+      - "3306"
+    ports:
+      - 3306:3306
+    environment:
+      - MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=root
+      - MARIADB_USERNAME=root
+      - MARIADB_PASSWORD=root
+      - MARIADB_DATABASE=covid19_db
+      - MARIADB_MAX_ALLOWED_PACKET=128M
+      - MARIADB_INNODB_LOG_FILE_SIZE=64M
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "/usr/bin/mysql --user=root --password=root--execute \"SHOW DATABASES;\""]
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 5
+    volumes:
+      - mysql:/var/lib/mysql
+      - backup:/var/lib/backup
+
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 60a135b..7d0301e 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ Please keep the following in mind when submitting your valuable contributions 
 - run `java -jar covid19-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.jar`. Check if the jar version matches.
 - NOTE: access logs will get stored in the tomcat folder (tomcat/access/).
  These logs can be disabled from the application.yml
+ 
+### with Docker
+- build project using `mvn clean install`
+- unzip the `target/covid19-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.zip` to `target/covid19-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT`
+- modify the db url in the application.yml (replace localhose with container name) as below  (FIXME: automate with spring profiles)
+- `url: jdbc:mysql://db:3306/covid19_db?useUnicode=yes&characterEncoding=UTF-8`
+- run ` docker-compose up -d`  , make sure that ports 8000 and 3306 are not used in the local machine
+- connect to dockerized mysql localhost:3306/covid19_db and execute `covid19.sql` on server (execute `covid19_test.sql` to add test data)
 
 ## APIs 
 ----