Women wearing face masks disinfect their hands in central Piazza Venezia, in Rome. Picture used for illustrative purposes only. AP

Gulf Today Report

Uber are considering establishing a fund to pay workers who are either sickened or quarantined by the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Multiple ride-hailing and delivery companies are following in the footsteps of Uber, which announced it would compensate its drivers who catch the new COVID-19.

Uber on Saturday announced that drivers who provide documentation that show they have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or quarantined by health authorities would "receive compensation for a period of up to 14 days."

"This has already begun in some markets, and we are working to implement mechanisms to do this worldwide," an Uber spokesman said.

"We believe this is the right thing to do," said Andrew Macdonald, the senior vice president of rides and platform.

Other rideshare and delivery companies have indicated they intend to follow suit, a shift for such organisations, which often ensure their drivers do not qualify as full-time employees and thus cannot claim some social protections.

Meal and food delivery services DoorDash and Instacart told on Sunday they were in discussions with other companies in their sector, such as Lyft and Postmates, to take the global health crisis into account.

DoorDash said it was working "to protect the health and safety of our community in response to the spread of COVID-19, including exploring options with our peer companies to compensate" affected drivers.

It also highlighted a delivery instruction feature that lets drivers drop food off at the door "with a photo of where the food should be left through the app."

The coronavirus, initially infecting residents of China, has spread worldwide, causing thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of infections. The world economy has also taken hits, with slowdowns in manufacturing and tourism caused by fears of the virus’ spread.