Zomato Starts Showing Body Temperature of Its Delivery Executives Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

The new update is initially limited to 50 percent of daily active Zomato delivery partners.

By Jagmeet Singh | Updated: 15 April 2020 17:19 IST

Zomato has followed the model that’s been used by many restaurants and aggregators in China

Highlights

Zomato users have started seeing body temperature of delivery executives
The company already has temperature checks in place
Body temperature doesn’t clearly indicate COVID-19 infection, though

Zomato has started showing the body temperature of its delivery executives on its app to further offer a peace of mind to its users. This temperature data will also be used by restaurant to spot sick executives. The company has also started providing an extended bill highlighting the temperature of the restaurant staff. The new developments are aimed to retain customers in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak in India. Similar to Zomato, Swiggy's private brands including Bowl Company and Homely have also started sharing the temperature of restaurant chefs and supporting staff with their customers.

The Zomato app will show you the body temperature of the delivery executives on the order tracking screen once your food has been picked up. This sounds similar to how restaurants and food aggregators are sharing temperature details with their customers in China.

The new update is initially limited to about 50 percent of its daily active delivery partners, while additional riders are being covered on a daily basis, the company said in a statement to Gadgets 360.

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Various users on Twitter and other social media platforms have already noticed the change.

Whoa @ZomatoIN really Cool of you to monitor Rider Temperature ! Thank You all the riders of Zomato! You are #CoronaWarriors pic.twitter.com/5PaoI4xHmz
— Paras Khurana (@khuranaparas) April 10, 2020

Several Zomato's restaurant partners are using an infrared (IR) thermometer to measure the body temperature of their staff and delivery executives. The company has also started establishing sanitation stations for its delivery executives at some of its partner restaurants.

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Zomato says that restaurant partners will only hand over the order to delivery executives if their body temperature is found to be within the normal range that is 98.4-degree Fahrenheit. Earlier, both Zomato and Swiggy claimed that they had started considering temperature readings for their executives with a view to provide a safer delivery experience to their customers during the pandemic.

“As an essential service provider, it is important we take all measures to ensure safe delivery of food,” said Mohit Sardana, COO - Food Delivery, Zomato, in the statement. “Checking delivery partner's temperature adds another layer of precautions and we are glad that our restaurant partners have been embracing this feature widely. We hope to expand it to a larger base of restaurants by next week.”

Similar to Zomato, Swiggy has also started showing the temperature of its delivery executives on some orders, as noticed by some users. The temperature sharing is, however, currently limited to private brands including Bowl Company and Homely. Similarly, Rebel Foods is also sharing body temperature of its delivery executives for some time.

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Zomato has also started providing extended bills to its customers with body temperature of restaurant chefs and supporting staff, as reported by some users on Twitter.

Showing body temperature is a welcome step as it ensures that the delivery executives are fit and healthy to deliver orders. However, it is important to note that various health experts have highlighted that the symptoms of COVID-19 vary in some cases and may take time to appear. It is, thus, not certain to determine whether someone is infected with coronavirus merely by looking at their body temperature.

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