Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO India & South-East Asia said they were also in talks with several companies to use their space for mass vaccination drives.

With a severe shortfall in hospital facilities, OYO India joined the list of companies to volunteer hotels associated with the brand to be used as self-isolation and quarantine centres across three cities.

OYO currently has around 100 rooms which have been offered in the cities and the number will keep rising, as will the number of locations nationwide, a source within the company told ETHospitalityWorld. OYO has tied up with over thirty hospitals, he added.

Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO India & South-East Asia said, “In the wake of the second wave of the pandemic, there is a dire need to build capacity and support the health care system with existing infrastructure. At OYO, we’re doing everything in our power to help those who need us the most right now. Our presence across India allows us the opportunity to support the healthcare system during these tough times. As part of OYO Care, we are offering stays to anyone who requires isolation or quarantine to recover from COVID-19, protect their loved ones from the virus. We are also supporting healthcare workers with quarantine stays and rest well near hospitals. TheOYO app is now updated to allow easy booking of quarantine stays. We have also tied up with 30+ hospitals, several government authorities and private sector companies to offer our services for frontline workers.

Kapoor added that over the past few weeks, they had seen the country’s underprivileged struggle to get access to resources such as oxygen cylinders, beds, critical medicines.

“Given this situation, we are supporting GiveIndia’s fundraising campaign #ShelterforAll to aid vulnerable segments of our society with isolation or quarantine facilities free of cost. So far, we have turned three properties into quarantine centres across Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram. Vaccinations are the only way to beat the pandemic and make sure that the hotel industry recovers soon. To enable the country’s efforts in

#vaccinationforall, we are in talks with several corporates to offer our spaces for their mass vaccination drives for employees,” he said.