GUSEC Advisory on COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)
To apply for our COVID-19 Accelerator i.e. Breakthrough Accelerator, click here.
This is the Advisory Page for all stakeholders of GUSEC regarding important information during this evolving time of prevention of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in India. This page will be regularly updated with more updates.
April 19
In the view of the extension of the nation-wide lockdown to May 3, 2020, and the emergence of Ahmedabad city as a hotspot of coronavirus pandemic in the country, the GUSEC Co-Working Space shall continue to remain closed until May 3, 2020. All services except Co-Working Space are being made available to startups and stakeholders of GUSEC, as usual, including:
- Funding: Review, consideration, and scrutiny of new funding applications, and continued access to funding to approved startups
- Mentorship, guidance and allied support
- Networking, connections and facilitation
- Programs: Regular mentor programs, workshops and sessions, for the general public and exclusive sessions for startups
- New Startups: Review of new startup support applications and ongoing scrutiny, interviews and selection for incubation
- Breakthrough Accelerator: Exclusive, fast-track support to startups working to solve challenges around COVID-19 and lockdown through Breakthrough Accelerator
- Resources: Access to common resources such as Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, Udemy, etc.
- Upskilling: Access to Coursera unlimited licenses for all startups supported by GUSEC
Waivers are being made simpler for the periodic Community Development Contribution (CDC) payable by startups, as well as late fees on CDC payments has been completely waived off. Startups shall also be able to make these payments by the end of the month instead of the 10th day of the month.
Existing startups may write to the Incubation Team for any support and general public queries may be sent to [email protected].
Mandatory Proactive Disclosures
Effective April 27, 2020, startup founders will be required to mandatorily disclose, through a special form, any of the following scenarios.
- Team Member Positive: A team member been diagnosed positive with COVID-19
- Family Member: A family member of a team member has been diagnosed positive with COVID-19
- Neighbour: A neighbour (in the same residential society) has been diagnosed positive with COVID-19
- Cluster Exposure: A team member lives in a quarantined cluster or has been exposed to it in the last 21 days
- Patient Exposure: A team member has had exposure to a patient affected by COVID-19 in the last 21 days
- COVID Warriors: A team member has volunteered for COVID-19 relief works
- Healthcare Warriors: A family member of a team member is a healthcare professional with active duty in fighting the pandemic
The above shall be disclosed irrespective of the team member’s current geographic location or their frequency of accessing the GUSEC Co-Working premises.
March 28
In the view of the nation-wide lockdown in place until April 15, GUSEC premises shall also remain completely closed until April 15. All other GUSEC services for startups will continue to be delivered as usual.
Startup Support: We continue to support startups during this time, as usual. All our units are fully operational, including accounts. We are processing grant-related payments and vendor-payments as usual, although with limited frequency and slower turn-around times.
COVID-19 Solutions: We are actively looking for COVID19 (and lockdown) related solutions that your startup may have at the moment. At least three different solutions of GUSEC startups are being discussed with various govt agencies for implementation. If you have any such solutions, please write to [email protected].
Requirement of Proactive Disclosures: In addition to the contact-tracing methods adopted by the local civic bodies, it is required that all startup founders immediately notify the Incubation Team if a founder or any of other team members have had any first-person or second-person contact with anyone (or their family) who has been tested positive with COVID-19 in the last 21 days. This is essential to prevent community spread of the virus.
March 20
Temporary Closure of GUSEC premises
In light of the gradually evolving situation of COVID-19 and in line with central, state and local govt advisories, it has been decided by the competent authority to close the GUSEC Premises from 7:30 PM on March 20, 2020, onwards. This temporary measure is being put in place for the next week as we constantly monitor the situation and reevaluate as per the situation.
GUSEC strongly advises all its stakeholders to stay at home and maintain social distancing as much as possible.
During this time, the GUSEC team shall be reachable on call, email and/or WhatsApp to ensure ongoing support for startups. All our operations related to startup facilitation, support, networking, grant disbursement, virtual mentorship, etc. will continue business as usual, with all our team members working from home.
March 18
Limiting the use of co-working space
The following temporary measures are being introduced at GUSEC effective 12 noon on March 19, 2020:
- At any point in time, max. two persons per startup may use the coworking premises
- All persons must maintain a minimum distance of 1 metre between each other
- No visitors/deliveries for any startups will be allowed inside the co-working premises
- No meetings should take place. All meeting rooms will be inaccessible.
- Co-working space timings will only be operational between 09:30 AM & 7:30 PM, Mondays through Saturdays. Co-working space will be closed on Sundays.
- Startups not occupying physical space are advised to avoid visits to the GUSEC premises unless essential/critical work-related things demand a visit
- This is being issued in addition to the advisory issued on March 14, 2020
Strict compliance with this policy is being expected by all startups. A fine of Rs. 5,000 will be levied in case any startup is found to be violating this requirement.
This policy will be in force until the end of Sunday, March 29, 2020, during which time this will be reviewed. GUSEC Management is evaluating and monitoring this evolving situation. In the coming days, GUSEC may need to completely close down the co-working space temporarily if the situation demands.
March 14, 2020
Advisory for all stakeholders of GUSEC
This is an updated advisory regarding the evolving situation of the spread of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) for all stakeholders of GUSEC.
More than 1,60,000 cases of COVID-19 in over 155 countries have now been identified around the world, resulting in over 6,000 deaths. India has seen over 107 reported cases, including 2 deaths, spread over 13 states and union territories, and the Government of India – with all state governments – has moved into a mission mode to contain and limit the widespread outbreak of this virus, which has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
Co-working spaces like GUSEC are utilised and visited by persons with a variety of backgrounds, and the control and the flow of the people, as well as information regarding such people, is highly decentralised and limited. Our co-working space serves over 150 persons, who occupy the premises every day; as well as at least 50-70 persons of varied backgrounds visit our premises for a variety of reasons on a daily basis. This pattern of decentralised occupancy is highly vulnerable and can aide to the quick spread of this virus in case of exposure to any carrier.
To ensure that GUSEC continues to be a safe working space for all our startups and remains a positive environment for our community at large; and in line with various expert and regulatory advisories, we are hereby updating our previous internal advisory issued on March 6, 2020, as well as introducing a few mandatory requirements for all the startups supported by GUSEC, as below. These requirements are coming into effect immediately.
Mandatory Requirements
Mandatory Stay At Home: Persons (founders, team members of startups and all visitors) having A) any symptoms (fever, runny nose, sneezing, difficulty breathing, fatigue, tiredness or coughing, etc.); and/or B) persons with any travel history since February 12, 2020, to any COVID-19 affected destination or contact with a person having such travel history; should mandatorily stay at home and refrain from using the GUSEC premises, unless advised otherwise by a doctor.
Mandatory Reporting of Any Travel: All persons at GUSEC must avoid non-essential domestic and international travel, and anyone with a travel history to any COVID-19 affected destination or any contact with such a person, should immediately report such travel / contact to [email protected].
Mandatory Health Disclosure by all visitors: In the next few days, all visitors at the GUSEC premises will be required to submit a mandatory health disclosure form. Our reception facility is being amped up to ensure this is implemented smoothly.
Startup founders and all other stakeholders of GUSEC must ensure strict compliance with these mandatory requirements.
Updated advisory to prevent the widespread outbreak
Allow Work from Home: We are now strongly recommending startup founders to allow & encourage team members to work from home and employ the use of new-age tools to effectively implement remote-work processes. Founders and startups must write to us in case GUSEC can make it easier for startups working out of the premises to implement work-from-home processes, perhaps through availing access of any such tools, etc.
Use Namaste: Encourage use of Namaste instead of handshakes.
Enforce Hygiene: Founders should also ensure team members are well advised and informed about simple public health measures of hand and respiratory hygiene.
Encourage Awareness: Avoid touching frequently-touched surfaces such as doorknobs, switches, desktops, hand railings etc. as well as avoid touching your nose, mouth, ears and eyes.
Stop Fake News: Call-out the spread of misinformation, fake messages, forwards, etc. and only depend on information circulated through genuine sources. Here are a few sources one could recommend to everyone to limit the spread of misinformation. World Health Organisation (www.who.int), India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (www.mohfw.gov.in)
Seek Help: Contact India’s COVID-2019 helpline at 011-2397846 or contact the GUSEC team at [email protected] for any assistance.
Other Efforts at GUSEC
Additional Cleaning: Disinfection and cleanliness efforts have been ramped up across the premises, using hospital-grade disinfectants.
Limiting the use of AC: While the survivability of the COVID-19 in relation to varied temperatures is not currently known, it has been observed that – like any other microorganism – COVID-19 is not spreading as quickly and easily in areas with warm and humid climates (even as there have been a few exceptions). As a precautionary measure, we will be limiting the use of air conditioning in all areas of GUSEC.
Keeping Doors Open: Some latest studies (that are yet to be peer-reviewed) indicate that COVID-19 may survive on metal surfaces such as stainless steel for over 3 days, and in order to avoid frequent surface-touches, majority of the doors across GUSEC will be kept open as much as possible.
સ્ટાર્ટ-અપ્સ અને મુલાકાતીઓ માટે મહત્ત્વની સુચનાઓ
ફરજીયાત ઘરે રહેવુઃ એવી વ્યક્તિઓ 1) જેમને તાવ, નાક ગળતું હોય, છીંક આવતી હોય, શ્વાસ લેવામાં તકલીફ થતી હોય, થાક લાગતો હોય, ઉધરસ આવતી હોય, વગેરે અને/અથવા 2) COVID-19 અસરગ્રસ્ત વિસ્તારોની 15 ફેબ્રુઆરી 2020 પછી મુલાકાત લીધી હોય, અથવા મુલાકાત લીધી હોય તેવા લોકોના સંપર્કમાં આવ્યા હોય, તેમણે ફરજીયાતપણે ઘરે રહેવું અને આ પરિસરમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો નહીં.
અનિવાર્ય સંજોગોમાં જ પ્રવાસ કરવો તેની માહિતી આપવીઃ અનિવાર્ય ન હોય તેવો દેશમાં કે વિદેશમાં પ્રવાસ ટાળવો. COVID-19 પ્રભાવિત વિસ્તારોની મુલાકાત લીધી હોય અથવા મુલાકાત લીધી હોય તેવી વ્યક્તિના સંપર્કમાં પણ આવ્યા હોય તો આ પ્રવાસ કે સંપર્ક વિશે તાત્કાલિક [email protected] પર જાણ કરવી.
વર્ક ફ્રોમ હોમને અનુમતિ આપવીઃ પોતાના ટીમના સભ્યો ઘરેથી કામ કરે તે માટે ફાઉન્ડર્સે તેમને અનુમતિ આપવી જોઈએ અને આ અંગે તેમને પ્રોત્સાહિત પણ કરવા જોઈએ. દુરથી પણ કામ કરાવી આપતી આધુનિક સમયમાં ઉપલબ્ધ તકનિકોનો અસરકારક રીતે અમલ કરવો.
નમસ્તેઃ હસ્તધનૂન (હેન્ડશેક્સ)ની જગ્યાએ નમસ્તેનો ઉપયોગ કરવો.
ચોખ્ખાઈ રાખવીઃ હાથ તેમજ શ્વસનતંત્રને લગતી ચોખ્ખાઈ અંગે પોતાની ટીમના સભ્યોને યોગ્ય સલાહ-સુચન મળી રહે અને તેમને સાચી માહિતી ઉપલબ્ધ હોય તે ફાઉન્ડર્સે સુનિશ્ચિત કરવું.
જાગૃતિ ફેલાવવીઃ વારંવાર સ્પર્શ થતી હોય તેવી વસ્તુઓ, જેવી કે બારણાના હેન્ડલ, સ્વિચ, ડેસ્કટોપ્સ, હેન્ડ રેલિંગસ્, વગેરેને બને ત્યાં સુધી સ્પર્શ કરવો નહીં. પોતાના નાક, મોઢા, કાન અને આંખને પણ વારંવાર અડવું નહીં.
અફવા રોકોઃ સોશ્યલ મિડિયા, મિત્ર વર્તુળ કે સબંધીઓ દ્વારા ફેલાવામાં આવતી અનધિકૃત માહિતી પર વિશ્વાસ કરવો નહીં. માત્ર વિશ્વાસપાત્ર સ્રોત દ્વારા અપાતી માહિતી પર આધાર રાખવો.
મદદ માંગતા ખચકાવું નહીઃ કોઈ પણ મદદ જોઈતી હોય તો COVID -2019 માટેની 011-2397846 ટેલિફોનિક હેલ્પલાઇનનો સંપર્ક કરવો અથવા GUSEC ટીમનો [email protected] પર સંપર્ક કરવો.
જીયુસેક પર ખાસ પ્રયાસોઃ ચેપ ફલાય નહી અને ચોખ્ખાઈ જળવાઈ રહે તેવા પ્રયાસો જીયુસેક પર વધારી દેવામાં આવ્યા છે. એર-કન્ડિશનિંગ સીસ્ટમ્સનો ઉપયોગ જીયુસેક પર સીમિત કરી દેવાયો છે. વારંવારનો સ્પર્શ રોકવા જીયુસેકના મોટાભાગના દરવાજા શક્ય એટલા ખુલ્લા રાખવામાં આવ્યા છે.
તમામ મુલાકાતીઓ દ્વારા ફરજીયાત આરોગ્યની માહિતી આપવીઃ COVID-19 (નોવેલ કોરોનાવાઇરસ)નો ફેલાવો રોકવા જીયુસેક પર આવતા તમામ મુલાકાતીઓએ પોતાના આરોગ્ય અંગેની માહિતી મેન્ડેટરી હેલ્થ ડિસ્ક્લોઝર ફોર્મમાં ભરીને આપવાની રહેશે.
તાવ કે COVID-19ના લક્ષણો હોય તો 104 નંબરની ટેલિફોનિક હેલ્પલાઇન પર સંપર્ક કરવો. સારવારની જવાબદારી અમદાવાદ મ્યુનિસિપલ કોર્પોરેશનની રહેશે.