Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing has setup a $10m fund to help support COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the markets it operates in outside of China.

The ‘Global Vaccination Support Fund’ will see Didi had out free or discounted rides for people travelling to vaccination appointments and for the healthcare workers providing vaccinations across the 13 markets, which include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, and Russia.

The cash will also be used to support other measures in each country, though how the fund is allocated will be decide on a market-by-market basis.

“The vaccination support initiative is a crucial step in our local recovery effort across the world,” said Jean Liu, President of Didi Chuxing. “The incredible commitment and agility of Didi teams, together with a safety system built for complex mobility scenarios, play a critical role in protecting our people and ensuring essential services throughout these challenging times. We will continue to stand by our partners and communities to get our cities moving again.”

In the past year, the ride-hailing platform has already sponsored more than 6m free or discounted rides and meals for frontline healthcare workers outside of China through its ‘Didi Hero’ initiative. It has also distributed more than 6m masks and sanitation kits to its driver and courier partners, and provided financial support to those partners.

Back at home in China, the company sponsored over 1m free rides, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of thousands of drivers who signed up to join Didi’s medical fleets. And it setup 200 offline sanitation stations, while providing over RMB 200m to support its drivers.