As you undoubtedly know by now, Malaysia is now in a state of restricted movement, with the Prime Minister announcing the movement control order on Monday evening. However, essential services are still running, and Grab has also announced that its services—GrabFood, GrabExpress, GrabMart, and GrabCar—will continue to operate throughout this period.
The company has shared a few preventive steps that they are taking with Driver-Partners, Delivery-Partners, and customers to combat the spread of COVID-19. Passengers are encouraged to adopt cashless payment methods, while GrabShare and GrabBike has been suspended temporarily. There’s also a new insurance policy,”Ride Cover”, where customers can opt in at RM0.35/trip.
Contactless deliveries
Grab is also implementing “Contactless Deliveries”, where customers can leave a note when making orders to avoid contact with their delivery partners—thus maintaining social distance. According to Grab selected merchants are also offering 50% off “essential health-related products”.
While services will continue to operate, Grab Driver Centres are closed from the 18th–31st of March 2020—although the company is aiming to reopen in April. Subsidised face masks are also available to driver-partners and delivery-partners via GrabBenefits, although limited stock is available.
For GrabFood, all orders are carefully sealed, according to Grab. Additionally, Grab is looking to introduce a car-based delivery service—this will serve as an alternative source of income for driver-partners.
And if you notice any drivers or passengers displaying symptoms of COVID-19, please provide feedback via the Grab app. This will help Grab work with the Ministry of Health with contact tracing; according to Grab, those that are exposed will then have their accounts temporarily suspended.
RM1,000 will be given to partners who are infected with COVID-19 while on the job, and RM300 for drivers who are quarantined because of exposure.
Everyone to play their part
In general, I think it’s important to note that the movement control order is to flatten the curve of the pandemic. As such, complying with rules of the order such as not dining in eateries is important. Consequently, Grab (and their driver/delivery-partners) play a big role in this.
Social distancing is something that has been mentioned a lot, food delivery options like Grab can be a good way to order food while maintaining a responsible distance. To that end, options like contactless deliveries are certainly precautions worth taking.
