Delivering daily supplies amid Anhui's virus resurgence

HEFEI, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Every morning, Tan Zhangmeng starts up his motorbike and makes his first delivery of groceries to housebound residents in the virus-hit Sixian County, east China's Anhui Province.

Carrying dozens of bags of vegetables, fruit and other daily necessities, the 27-year-old delivery driver provides a lifeline to those still living in quarantine after the county suffered a COVID-19 resurgence in June.

From June 26 to July 10, a total of 367 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,466 asymptomatic carriers were logged in Anhui, of which 351 confirmed cases were in Sixian, in the city of Suzhou.

The county was placed under closed-off management to stem the spread of infections, and local authorities and enterprises made special arrangements to provide daily supplies to those under quarantine.

Tan had been working for food delivery platform Meituan since 2019, providing orders to local customers. When the resurgence hit last month, Tan heard that volunteers were needed to run extra deliveries, and he immediately stepped forward.

"I just wanted to do something for this fight against the pandemic," said Tan.

Having taking on the extra duties, Tan found himself riding through the city streets and alleys from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day.

"We typically handle around 50 orders every day, although the number hit 80 at the busiest time. The goods are mainly daily necessities, and the loads can be very heavy sometimes," he said.

Despite the scorching summer weather, he says he always does his best to deliver on time.

To reduce the risk of infection, Tan usually takes a large bottle of disinfectant fluid with him. The goods are also disinfected before being sent from the supermarket and after arriving at the community.

According to Hu Meihai, head of a Meituan station in Sixian, 20 riders from the company have been on duty since the latest COVID-19 emergence began.

"All the couriers live in the hotel near the supermarket and take the nucleic acid test and antigen detection each day. We also disinfect their motorbikes every day," said Hu.

The orders are often large, but couriers usually deliver them within one hour, with some making use of electric tricycles, Hu added.

Thanks to precise and scientific epidemic prevention and control measures, the pandemic in the county has gradually been brought under control in recent days.

During the latest round of county-wide nucleic acid testing, Sixian found no COVID-19 infections at the community level for three consecutive days, according to local authorities.

"Many more stores have opened to provide supplies. We believe things will return to normal soon and the city will be bustling once more," said Tan.