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Shanghai stated on Thursday that it was doing everything it could to enhance the distribution of food and essential items to incarcerated citizens, in response to mounting dissatisfaction with problems like Covid restrictions, which have now been in place for 11 days.
Only healthcare staff, volunteers, delivery personnel, and others with special permission are allowed on the streets in China’s financial metropolis, which has been mostly silent since the city enforced severe movement restrictions to halt the spread of Covid.
According to authorities, this has reduced the number of couriers serving the city’s 26 million citizens to just 11,000 people. Meituan, Alibaba’s Freshippo online grocery platform, and its Ele.me service are among the platforms that are still operational but overburdened.
Shanghai has enough commodities like rice and beef on hand, but due to epidemic control measures, challenges with distribution and last-mile supplies have arisen, according to Shanghai’s vice mayor Chen Tong, who spoke at a news conference on Thursday.
He stated that the city would make an effort to reopen several wholesale markets and food outlets, as well as allowing more delivery employees to leave the restricted regions. Price gouging will also be targeted by officials, he added.
“We’ve been holding discussions overnight to try and think out remedies in response to the different difficulties highlighted by the public,” he said.
Many residents are becoming concerned about food and drinking water, as well as the availability of items like infant formula.
Some people have complained on social media about getting up before 5 a.m. in the hopes of getting a grocery delivery, only to find that they were sold out in seconds. Others have turned to WeChat groups in their communities to try to buy fruits and vegetables in quantity.
On Wednesday, Shanghai dismissed rumours that it was planning to shut down all delivery services due to fears that the virus was spreading through such personnel. Every day, they must take PCR and antigen testing, and they can only deliver goods if the results are negative.
Shanghai has emerged as a test bed for China’s anti-Covid “dynamic clearing” approach, which aims to test, trace, and centrally quarantine all positive cases and their close contacts, despite the city’s tiny case counts by worldwide standards.
Shanghai city officials announced on Thursday that they would continue to test citizens who will be requested to complete PCR or self-administered antigen tests.
Hundreds of buildings in Shanghai have been turned into quarantine facilities, with the capacity to hold tens of thousands of positive cases. The China News Service reported late Wednesday that the neighbouring provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang will supply an additional 60,000 rooms for Shanghai patients to quarantine.
