The coronavirus outbreak has caused life across the world to stutter to a halt and the barricades are now quickly going up. Borders are being shut down and people are increasingly seeking to isolate themselves as restricting social contact has been touted by the scientific community as the one measure that may work to decelerate the pace of the virus’ spread.

However, in order for most of society to survive the isolation comfortably, we shall find ourselves increasingly dependent on a large fleet of gig economy workers operating at the frontline, ferrying people around and offering indispensable services door-to-door.

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This isn’t a small group of people, especially in India. About 80% of India’s workers are in the informal economy and the gig economy in particular is a booming employer, projected to grow to a staggering volume of $455 billion by 2023. Consider this — about 1.5 million drivers work for ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Ola in India.

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Gig workers in India are mostly young, often dependent on these gigs as their primary source of income and bereft of access to any form of health insurance or social security cover.

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They can therefore scarcely consider taking time off work for any reason. This precariousness could now pose a massive threat to public interest as these workers tend to interact with dozens of people a day and could become the new “super-spreaders” of the coronavirus.

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