(Yicai Global) April 6 -- From big companies to government agencies, Shanghai is endeavoring to ensure business as usual, including the supply of daily necessities and medical services to residents after the city of 25 million people went into lockdown amid a resurgence of Covid-19.

The city has a surfeit of agricultural produce, but the key issue is last mile delivery, an executive at Shanghai Vegetable Group told Yicai Global. To that end, supermarkets and e-commerce platforms in Shanghai have their own distribution teams, couriers, and community volunteers to get daily necessities out to people, he said.

Regarding health services, district-level authorities have set up systems to connect residential communities with medical institutions, Gu Honghui, Shanghai’s deputy secretary-general, said at a press conference yesterday. Emergency medical channels have been launched to help patients with acute and critical diseases, pregnant women, and those who need kidney dialysis, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, Gu said.

Shanghai’s daily Covid-19 case count remains high, adding 311 confirmed cases and 16,766 asymptomatic infections yesterday, according to local health officials. The city has reported more than 90,000 cases since the start of March.

The city-wide lockdown quickly flattened Shanghai’s food supply chain, said Tao Jun, vice chairman of the business trade and logistics division at the China General Chamber of Commerce. The chain switched to a regional direct distribution system from the usual wholesale agricultural and sideline produce system that goes from farmers to supermarkets and e-commerce outlets to families.

Most local stores have been shut during the lockdown, but online operations have continued as bets they can to guarantee third-party logistics and retailers themselves can deliver products to customers, Yicai Global learned from retailers.

All of Hema Fresh’s 27 stores in Shanghai had enabled group-buying services as of 12.00 p.m. yesterday, a staffer at Alibaba Group Holding’s supermarket chain told Yicai Global. The deliverymen will send products directly to the gates of residential communities.

“We get thousands of online orders every day, for which we ensure the supply and delivery," Ji Linfeng, manager of a local branch of French supermarket giant Carrefour, told Yicai Global.

“Today we sent 17 trucks to other cities to mainly pick up vegetables and bring them back to Shanghai,” Ji said. “As the whole transportation process in closed-loop, truck drivers carry various permits, paper strips seal cabin doors to show they are safe, while drivers wear protective clothing.”

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione