Yandex launches “Helping Hand” to transport doctors, medicine and essential supplies

Company has allocated more than RUB 1.5 billion to help people during the Covid-19 pandemic

Yandex has launched the “Helping Hand” project to support medical and social services amid the huge challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The company stands ready to organize transport for doctors and deliveries of medicine, coronavirus testing kits and other essential goods. We are creating a separate fleet of vehicles drawn from the hundreds of thousands of cars available through the Yandex.Taxi service.

Transportation is already being provided for doctors and essential food packages in Moscow and Kazan. Similar services are being offered in all regions of Russia and every market where Yandex.Taxi, Yandex.EATs and Yandex.Lavka operate.

To kickstart the project, Yandex has allocated RUB 250 million to pay drivers who fulfill orders as part of the Helping Hand project. Drivers can volunteer to join the Helping Hand fleet, and will not be completing regular taxi orders while working for this project. All vehicles involved will be disinfected on a regular basis, and drivers will undergo frequent medical testing.

Arkady Volozh, CEO of Yandex, said:

“It is vital that we mobilize all of our resources to help doctors and other social services take care of people who are sick at home or are in quarantine. We, as Yandex, are putting our technology and infrastructure to work, and will also cover some of the transportation costs. We also believe it is important from a societal standpoint to support hundreds of thousands of drivers and couriers whose work – like the work of doctors – is genuinely heroic under the current circumstances.”

Tigran Khudaverdyan, Deputy CEO of Yandex, said:

“We have been working around the clock for over a month to repurpose our logistical capabilities. Hundreds of Yandex employees are also working on additional projects that help people through the pandemic.  These projects include distance learning for schoolchildren, public information initiatives, delivery services and much more.”

Medical and social services who would like to partner with us can submit an inquiry on help.yandex.ru. Companies who want to partner with us in the pandemic relief efforts and to offer financial support to these initiatives can write to us at covid@yandex-team.ru.

Information about other forms of assistance that Yandex is providing during the pandemic

Yandex has already allocated more than RUB 1.5 billion to help people affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

- RUB 600 million to assist taxi parks with car disinfection, procurement  and distribution of antiseptic supplies, and a  fund to  support drivers and couriers infected with the coronavirus;

- more than RUB 200 million to create a full-fledged online distance learning platform for schoolchildren, as well as online courses for teachers;

- RUB 500 million to support online advertising by SMEs;

- RUB 250 million to pay for  transportation costs for social and medical service workers as part of Yandex Helping Hand initiative.

- Yandex has created an informational section about the coronavirus on its main web page. It contains a map of the spread of the virus, the latest news, useful links and recommendations from the WHO, Ministry of Health and Rospotrebnadzor, as well as updates from the operational headquarters of the Russian regions.

- Taxis are seeing high demand for package delivery, as well as requests from businesses that do not have their own delivery services to organize delivery services through our Yandex.EATs and Yandex.Taxi platforms.

- The number of restaurants and cafes that are carrying out deliveries through our services has sharply increased. At present, six times as many restaurants connect to our platform per day than during normal times. For restaurants and cafes, delivery is now the main channel through which they can generate sales and support their business.

- Over the next month, Yandex.Taxi will allocate more than RUB 500 million to encourage demand for taxi services and provide discounts to users. Such measures will help make taxis more affordable for individuals who still need to travel around the city but want to minimize the risk of infection in public transport, while also allowing drivers to increase their earnings. The program will operate throughout all of Russia.

Contacts:

Media Relations
Sana Paritova
Phone: +7 495 739-70-00
E-mail: pr@yandex-team.ru