Indonesia’s major app-based food delivery players, Gojek’s Gofood and Grab’s Grabfood, have just announced a new temporary non-contact delivery system as part of an effort to contain further spread of the novel coronavirus.
With so many Indonesians depending on food delivery services even at the best of times, the initiative is a welcomed approach that helps support the ongoing social distancing movement to fight COVID-19, a suggestion that had also been encouraged by President Joko Widodo himself.
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Customers may write an additional note to the driver to drop off their meal at a designated location, such as at the door for those living in houses or kosan (boarding house) or at the reception area at an apartment lobby. Payment should be made via Gojek’s cashless payment Gopay or OVO if you’re ordering on Grabfood.
In a written statement, Gojek said it will provide partner drivers with soap and hand sanitizers at driver operations offices, shelters, and other community stations. In addition, partnered food merchants are given education materials on hygienic business practices, such as checking the temperature of all employees on a daily basis.
Grab wrote in a statement that one of its new policies includes a 2-meter safe distance between drivers and customers, and spraying disinfectants regularly on delivery bags and the cooking stations at its cloud kitchen service, GrabKitchen.
Indonesia is showing a trajectory for exponential growth of COVID-19 cases in the country after the government announced 82 new infections this afternoon, taking the country’s official caseload to 309.
Achmad Yurianto, Indonesia’s spokesman for COVID-19-related matters, finally released more comprehensive data breaking down the number of total cases by province, with Jakarta accounting for the majority of infections.
Of the 82 new cases, Achmad said that 52 of them are from Jakarta.
The death toll has also increased to 25 from 19 yesterday. Seventeen of the deaths were recorded in Jakarta.
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