France-based mobile payments company Lydia introduced a Covid-19 (coronvirus) donation feature to its app, enabling users to make contributions to 17 domestic charitable and hospital organisations.

The start-up unveiled the move in a Twitter post, explaining the process of making donations uses the system it established to send money to a contact on iOS and Android devices.

Lydia said there was no service charge for donors, with potential operating costs and bank charges incurred by charities and hospitals suspended until 30 June as part of pandemic-fighting efforts.

Contributions can be made to hospitals in the cities of Paris, Nice, Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg and Grenoble, along with organisations including Croix-Rouge Francais (The French Red Cross), Fondation de France and Medecins du Monde.

TechCrunch noted Lydia has more than 3.3 million users, mainly from its domestic market.