Shanghai races to ensure daily supplies amid fight against COVID-19

SHANGHAI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Authorities and suppliers in Shanghai have been racing to secure daily supplies to residents as the megacity, with a population of over 24 million, began temporary closed-off management in two phases to curb the recent resurgence in COVID-19 infections.

Shanghai has been working to increase sources of supplies and coordinate with suppliers to expand procurement channels to boost market supply, local authorities told a press conference.

Temporary vegetable warehouses have been set up for extra storage in the city and existing warehouses are boosting their capacity to deliver goods.

In Shanghai's Pudong District, a warehouse with the capacity to store up to 1,500 tonnes was set up, with around 200 tonnes of vegetables from across China entering the warehouse every day.

In grocery delivery platform Dingdong's Chenta Warehouse, employees have been working around the clock since March to meet the surging customer needs.

With an area of over 23,000 square meters, the warehouse is one of the largest sorting centers of fruit and vegetables in the Puxi area. Over 1 million fruit and vegetable items are sent to more than 100 distribution warehouses across western Shanghai.

Xu Huacheng, who is in charge of the warehouse, said that the warehouse has almost doubled its employees from around 300 to nearly 600 since March.

"Our supplies are overall stable, and the company has arranged more storage space for handling the surging needs," Xu said.

Before the epidemic, more than 1,000 orders were handled daily at the Qiangwei Distribution Station, which is about a 40-minute drive from the Chenta Warehouse. But, the amount has now more than tripled.

"We have increased the number of our deliverypersons from six before the epidemic to 27 now to meet the needs of the residents," said Wang Yulong, head of the station.

Local authorities have issued certificates to food suppliers like Dingdong to facilitate delivery to areas under closed-off management.

"Our distribution operation remains unaffected," Wang said. "Every day, we swing into action as soon as we wake up, so we can better serve the people."