(Yicai Global) Jan. 7 -- Chinese e-commerce giant JD.Com has halted its express delivery business in Xi’an after 15 of its employees have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

JD.Com has suspended its express delivery service in northwestern Shaanxi province’s capital Xi’an, which was hit by the latest coronavirus outbreak, the Department of Transport of Shaanxi said in a statement on its WeChat account on Jan. 5. State-backed China Post and Chinese courier SF Holdings are still operating normally in the city, it added.

Xi’an reported 63 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases yesterday, topping 1,900 since the start of the latest outbreak on Dec. 9, according to statistics from the National Health Commission. Several residential communities and road sections in the city have been put into lockdown, affecting the express delivery business.

China Post’s express delivery business’ absenteeism rate is at about 45 percent, with the number of delivered parcels declining 40 percent from pre-pandemic levels, the province’s transport department noted. Ninety-one percent of the divisions in charge of the collection and delivery of parcels in urban areas and 58 percent of those in the counties are operating normally, it added. China Post has delivered over 100 tons of emergency supplies but 40,000 of them are backlogged in Xi’an.

SF Holding has three distribution centers responsible for the express delivery to the northwestern regions in Xi’an. Of them, just one is operational with a daily throughput capacity at only 20 percent of pre-pandemic levels, the Department of Transport said. The absenteeism rate at the center is only 25 percent and all employees are under closed management.

There are three all-cargo aircrafts transporting supplies and materials, mainly essentials and anti-pandemic equipment, to Xi’an and they are at a loading rate of about 30 percent. Road transport’s volume dropped to 25 percent of the levels before the pandemic. Less than half of the express delivery service branches within the city are operational and only one-third of couriers are on duty.

Editor: Futura Costaglione