Leaders across the world are being forced to take drastic measures in the face of the Novel Coronavirus, and for Kenya, these measures include a nationwide curfew.
From 7 PM until 5 AM, Kenyans are not allowed to be outside until further notice. This has forced Uber Kenya which operates in two cities to suspend night pickups from 6 PM to 5 AM;
Following the national curfew directive announced by the President to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we are suspending our rides services in Nairobi and Mombasa between 6pm and 5am daily, effective March 2020, until further notice
Uber Kenya via Twitter
The impact will be felt everywhere
At this point, it’s pretty clear that the impact of Coronavirus will be felt in every industry and by everyone to varying degrees. For Uber in Kenya, apart from cancelling night trips, there will no doubt be depressed interest in the service even during the hours it’s operational as consumers around the world continue to be reluctant to use transport services and to continue moving around putting themselves at risk.
Globally we’ve already seen many tech industries such as the smartphone market begin to feel the effects of COVID-19 and this will spread to other sectors of the global economy.
With many losing jobs both temporarily and permanently companies that offer luxury services (e.g ride-hailing in African markets) will no doubt be hit hard during the pandemic and after as consumers still won’t have much disposable incomes.
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