Coronavirus Outbreak: How Flipkart, Amazon, Uber, Ola and other companies are tackling the 21-day lockdown

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day countrywide lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak. Several companies have to halt their manufacturing facilities while others had to suspend their services for time being. Here are a few companies that have modified their regular pattern services during the time of crisis. [caption id=“attachment_8122551” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Representational image. AP[/caption]

Uber

Taxi-hailing company, Uber has sent out emails to its riders that read, “In compliance with the Government Advisory to limit movement for reducing the spread of COVID-19, Uber services across India have been affected. This means that some or all of Uber services might not be available in your city. We request you to please follow the instructions of the public health authorities and use Uber only if absolutely essential.” Regular cabs, auto services are not available at the moment. Uber Pool, the ride-sharing option of Uber is also suspended currently.

Flipkart

As per the Flipkart website, the e-commerce platform has suspended all its services due to the lockdown. The website does not mention as to when the services will resume.

Amazon

Amazon has officially announced that it will stop orders of some low-priority products. It will now focus on delivering essential goods that include household staples, packaged food, health care, hygiene, personal safety and other high priority products. These changes are in effect from 24th March. Amazon also did not give any exact date as to when can we expect the services to resume in full swing.

Realme

Realme today announced that it has postponed the launch of its much-awaited Narzo smartphone series that was scheduled to launch tomorrow (26 January) in India.

While we are taking all the measures to fight #COVID19, we thought of bringing some joy to your lives as we continue with the online launch video premiere of #realmeNarzo series despite the postponement of sales. We are doing our bit, you can do yours too - #StayAtHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/dHt0CO2u4E

— realme (@realmeIndia) March 24, 2020

Realme India head Madhav Sheth has also announced that it has halted its “Make in India” manufacturing facility until further government notice.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi India head, Manu Jain today announced that due to coronavirus pandemic they will also postpone the launch of their Mi 10 smartphone that was slated to take place on 31 March in India. No revised launch date has been announced. The company previously also delayed the first sale of Redmi Note 9 Pro Max that was scheduled to take place on 24 March.

We, at #XiaomiIndia, are focusing our energy to support the nation in its fight against #COVID19.

After careful deliberation, we've decided to postpone the launch of #Mi10 in India, which was scheduled for 31st March 2020.

Thank you for your patience & cooperation.#Xiaomi ❤️ pic.twitter.com/KCDDbXJxTs

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) March 25, 2020

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Apple

Bloomberg has reported that Apple’s supplier Foxconn and Wistron have suspended their production facilities in India. The plants will remain closed till 14 April as per the government order. iPhone XR is being assembled in India from October last year and the manufacture of iPhone 11 is also expected in these facilities.

Ola

This ride-hailing service is also currently suspended in India. We have reached out to the company to understand if they minimised their service or have suspended it entirely.