THESE companies to offer financial support to COVID-positive employees and drivers

Ride-hailing major Uber on Friday said its drivers testing positive for COVID-19 will receive a one-time payout of up to Rs 6,800 in partial earnings support for 14 days.

Drivers furnishing a positive RT-PCR test from an accredited lab will receive a one-time payout of up to a maximum of Rs 6,800 in partial earnings support for 14 days, depending upon their city of residence and engagement on the platform, according to a statement.

This is in addition to Uber's previous announcement of the Rs 18.5 crore (USD 2.5 million) initiative to get 1.5 lakh drivers on its platform vaccinated over the next six months.

Uber said COVID-positive drivers will be unable to access the platform while they're receiving partial earnings support as a safety measure to help limit the spread of the virus.

In the unfortunate event of a driver succumbing to COVID-19, Uber will provide a one-time support package worth Rs 75,000 to help meet the immediate needs of surviving family members, it added.

"Since the onset of the pandemic, Uber drivers have shown themselves to be essential workers, helping India and its people get through the crisis.

"We are pleased to be able to offer drivers who contract the virus partial earnings support while they recuperate at home," Uber India and South Asia Head (Supply and Driver Operations) Pavan Vaish said.

He added that alongside its driver vaccination programme, the latest initiative will help Indian authorities to break COVID-19's transmission chain.

As India reels under the impact of the deadly second wave of coronavirus infections, several organisations across the spectrum have come forward to support the relief efforts.

Efforts to ramp up vaccination are also underway. India has so far administered over 20.5 crore jabs to eligible beneficiaries.

IT firm Capgemini on Friday said it is rolling out an on-premise vaccination drive for 1.25 lakh employees and dependents.

Capgemini has tied up with multiple partners across locations. Its healthcare partners are MGM Hospital and Reliance Hospitals in Mumbai, Red Cross in Chennai, Apollo Hospitals in Bengaluru, Rainbow in NCR, Apollo Hospitals in Kolkata and Aditya Birla Hospitals in Pune.

Additionally, Capgemini is tying up with over 200 hospitals across Capgemini India locations for off-premise vaccination drives to cover vaccination for as many employees as possible, it said in a statement.

Fashion platform LimeRoad said for its employees earning salaries below Rs 50,000 a month, it is providing a special COVID-19 term-insurance of up to Rs 3 lakh, in addition to the medical insurance that covers all hospital costs.

LimeRoad CEO and founder Suchi Mukherjee said, "These are unprecedented times. While many have lived through horrific moments trying to get help for loved ones, we are doing whatever we can to support our people in this difficult health crisis."

The company's measures are designed to ensure that its people have access to some of the core needs that "we can help them with time off work, medical care, financial help and wherever helpful, insurance".

Social media platform Instagram said Indian musicians are now uniting to use their collective might to continue to support COVID-19 relief efforts.

As an extension of Facebook's 'Social For Good' initiative, 27 artists will perform at a concert called 'Live In Your Living Room' on Instagram, to raise funds for causes that the artists are supporting, a statement said.

This 2021's version of the concert will feature 27 artists, in a series of live gigs that people will have to go to their accounts for, one after the other for 8 hours.

The line-up performing includes Armaan Malik, Eric Nam, KSHMR, Salim Merchant, Shalmali Kholgade, Sunidhi Chauhan, Saindhavi Prakash, Satyaprakash Dharmar, Andrea Jeremiah, and Big Indie Bang (Neyhal, Raghav Meattle).

It also includes Akanshka Bhandari, Anuv Jain, Euphoria, Shilpa Rao, Salim Merchant, Arjun Kanungo, Zaeden, Yashraj Mehra, Gully Gang, and Benny Dayal.