Chinese Ride-Hailing Firm Didi Offers $10 Million for Workers Diagnosed with Coronavirus

Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing said Thursday that it is granting a $10 million to support couriers and drivers tested positive to coronavirus as corporations globally grapple with how to respond to the pandemic.

The fund will help Didi’s drivers and couriers in  Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Japan, Mexico and Australia after similar measures in the firm’s home market of China.

As cases of the coronavirus jump worldwide, firms in the so-called gig-economy have come under pressure to take care of people who work on their platforms and are usually labeled as independent contractors, missing sick leave and other advantages.

The amount of support that couriers and drivers will receive and the length of time they will be eligible had been still being decided, a Didi spokesperson stated, adding that drivers and couriers will obtain more information from the company on a country-specific basis in the coming days.

Didi’s primary competitor, San Francisco-based Uber Technologies, said Saturday it’ll offer compensation to drivers and delivery people tested positive to the coronavirus or placed in isolation for as much as 14 days in the markets where it functions around the globe.

In Latin America, the fund represents an opportunity for Didi to construct goodwill as ride-hailing rules are being formed in nations such as Chile and Colombia, stated Gonzalo Araujo, a former Uber executive who’s now a partner at Orza, a Bogota-based public affairs agency.

In China, where the coronavirus emerged last December, Didi has offered a daily allowance to drivers who’ve been hospitalized with the sickness and provided free transportation for medical staff, among other programs.