Zomato mandates all delivery partners to use Aarogya Setu

Zomato has made it mandatory for all its delivery partners to download and use Aarogya Setu. The food-delivery company is currently catering to food as well as grocery deliveries across cities to help people cope with the current Covid-19 lockdown.

In an announcement today, Zomato addressed the fact that running a food delivery operation at this point in time is not profitable and they'd rather "shut this down temporarily and conserve some cash when investments are drying out". But, "it is a call of duty to continue to serve", said Zomato, adding that "one delivery partner on the street saves hundreds of families from going out of their homes to buy essentials and run their household".

However, being on the frontline exposes all delivery partners to the possibility of getting infected by the virus and also the customers they get in touch with for those few seconds to deliver an order.

"And every day, we lose our sleep over - 'what if someone catches the infection'."

Bringing contact tracing in to help curb the (potential) spread of Covid-19, Zomato has mandated that all delivery partners install and use the Aarogya Setu app. "The idea is to keep individuals, as well as the authorities, informed in case our delivery partners have crossed paths with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus - to prevent further spread," Zomato explained.

"We are also going to showcase that our delivery partners are using the Aarogya Setu app on the Zomato app so that our users feel confident in getting their essentials home delivered, and not step out," they added.

"We have made sure that they can only log in to their Zomato Delivery Partner app if their phone has the Aarogya Setu app installed, and is running as a background process on their phone," Zomato explained.

With this feature, Zomato hopes to fulfil two main objectives -

- In case the delivery partner comes in contact with an infected person or visits a hotspot area, authorities will know at the earliest. This will instantly enable us to isolate the delivery partner, and support him/her for quarantine and treatment.

- In case everything's showing okay on the app, then a user knows for sure that whichever delivery partner is bringing their order to the doorstep is most likely safe and aware.

"We also encourage our users to download the Aarogya Setu app. We are aware of the alleged privacy concerns that some of us have against using the app. But even if these concerns were well-founded, it is a small cost to pay for the sake of the collective long term," the announcement read.

"Stepping out for essentials might seem safer, but it is not. In this case, unlike a lot others, ignorance is not bliss. It can lead to catastrophic outcomes for the entire community. We all need to stay at home and live through this,"Zomato said.

The company has pointed out that this is the first time they have made something mandatory for delivery partners, even their red t-shirts are not mandatory.

More companies join in

After Zomato, Urban Company has also asked all its frontline employees to use Aarogya Setu.

In a statement, Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder of Urban Company, said:

"Urban Company has put in place a strict six step safety protocol for all services. These protocols include daily temporary checks, wearing masks and gloves, sanitization of tools & surfaces, use of single use sachets and disposables, sick leave programme etc. A very important SOP is our service partner showing consumers their status on the Aarogya Setu app before entering the consumer's house."