Coronavirus: Uber suspends operations in 32 Indian cities
Uber Pool and Uber Intercity services have been suspended across the country. The ride-hailing giant takes this step to limit movement to check the spread of coronavirus
In compliance with Central and State Government directives, ride-hailing giant Uber has decided to halt its services in 32 Indian cities, until further notice. Uber takes this step to limit movement of its drivers and passengers to check the spread of COVID-19. Uber Pool and Uber Intercity services have been suspended across the country.
Uber's blog post read:
"This means that, while we will continue to offer services to meet the essential and urgent travel needs of many communities we serve, some or all of Uber's rides services will not be available till further notice."
Uber has halted its services in the following cities:
- Andhra Pradesh: Tirupati, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam
- Delhi NCR
- Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot
- Jharkhand: Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi
- Maharashtra: Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune
- Punjab: Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana
- Rajasthan: Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur
- Telangana: Hyderabad
- Uttar Pradesh: Agra, Bareilly, Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi
- West Bengal: Asansol, Durgapur, Siliguri
"Our priority remains keeping drivers, riders and our communities safe," Uber's blog post added.
The Centre and State Governments have decided to completely shut down 75 districts across the country, in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus. More than 750 million people across India are under lockdown.
Uber's rival Ola announced earlier that it would be suspending all Share rides in the country. Recently, the Bengaluru-based ride-hailing company announced that it would be covering the loss of income for its driver-partners and their spouses, in case they test positive for COVID-19. Infected driver-partners and their spouses would receive Rs 1,000 per day, for 21 days, from the date they would test positive. Ola also partnered with online doctor consultation platform Mfine to provide free medical consultations for its driver-partners and their families.
The total number of coronavirus positive cases in India rose to 478 on Monday, March 23, and the number of those killed by the disease climbed to nine.
(Edited by Javed Gaihlot)