By Arul Louis

New York, Mar 27 (IANS): US Vice President Mike Pence has said that the Indian multi-national company, Oyo Hotels and Homes, is pitching in to help medical personnel on the frontlines of war on coronavirus by offering them free rooms at its hotels in the US.

"Oyo Hotels is offering doctors and nurses and first responders free rooms at any of their 300 hotels across America," Pence announced at his daily briefing on the pandemic on Thursday.

Doctors, nurses, medical technicians and ambulance crew, who have been working long hours with the overflow of patients from the pandemic, have been checking into hotels between shifts to be near their hospitals.

Many of them have the added problem of avoiding bringing home the infection and some have reported sleeping in their car shed to self-isolate themselves from their relatives when they go home because of their exposure to coronavirus.

Oyo Group Ritesh Agarwal said earlier in a statement, "To all the medical personnel fighting this disease on the front lines, we welcome you and we can't be grateful enough."