China Focus: E-commerce platforms aid daily supplies amid Shanghai's COVID surge

An employee prepares online orders for delivery at a Burger King store in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

SHANGHAI, April 10 (Xinhua) -- An increasing number of e-commerce giants and food delivery platforms have joined in the battle against the resurgence of the Omicron variant in Shanghai to secure the megacity's daily supplies.

Local authorities confirmed Sunday that e-commerce giants such as JD.com, online food delivery platforms Meituan and Eleme, and courier services companies have cooperated with the city to provide daily necessities for the residents.

With a population of 25 million, Shanghai has now become a primary battleground against the virus. It reported over 20,000 new domestic infections on Saturday. The city has employed a temporary closed-off management strategy with citywide nucleic acid testing rounds.

"I haven't slept a wink for days," said Cai Xiaobing, head of a branch of YTO Express, a major express delivery firm in China. Cai has become a community volunteer since April 4, providing food for residents in the neighborhood of his community.

Cai's wife organizes online group buying every morning, and Cai contacts sellers and arranges the company's drivers to distribute the goods to residents door-to-door.

Cai said he needs to cope with goods for several thousands of residents every day.

"I even drove to a community to deliver 150 kg of rice at around 2 a.m. And just now, 500 bags of flour sold out in merely two minutes," he said, adding a volunteer team consisting of deliverymen has grown from six to 40, and they need to work more than 10 hours per day.

Wang Wenbo, vice president of JD, said that JD is sourcing goods from nationwide to meet Shanghai citizens' needs. The first batch of goods, including infant milk formula, diapers, medicines, epidemic prevention materials and mutton, have arrived.

The company has dispatched more than 2,000 anti-epidemic workers including delivery people to provide services in Shanghai. More workers are expected to be deployed there, Wang noted, adding unmanned intelligent delivery vehicles will carry out contactless delivery in Shanghai's closed-off areas.

Online food delivery platform Eleme, superstore chain RT-Mart, and Cainiao Network, Alibaba's logistics arm, also said they are organizing more local employees to return to work.

An employee prepares medicine for an online order at a drugstore in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

A delivery man takes an online medicine order from a drugstore in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

Employees prepare food for online orders at a food store in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

Employees pack food for online orders at a food store in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

An employee packs vegetables for online orders at a supermarket in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

An employee packs food for an online order at a Burger King store in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

An employee packs vegetables for online orders at a supermarket in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)