The capacity of Shanghai’s postal and courier services has been restored to one-sixth of the normal level as the city’s COVID-19 resurgence situation continues to improve.
More than a million parcels are being delivered every day as most courier firms have been authorized to resume operations, according to the Shanghai Postal Administration.
“However, some consumers might still be frustrated since there remain some bottlenecks and difficulties,” said Yu Hongwei, the administration’s deputy director.
Yu noted that some couriers are delivering anti-COVID-19 supplies, urgently needed medicines and daily necessities. Others are primarily serving companies that have resumed operations and government bodies but cannot yet serve individual residents.
The local government released a “white list” of the first group of 21 postal and courier companies, including EMS, SF Express, YTO, JD, FedEx, UPS and DHL, that can resume operations to meet surging public demand for pandemic-prevention supplies, medicines and daily necessities.
Sixteen companies on the white list have reopened their distribution centers, while the other five will reopen soon, Yu revealed.
More than 10,000 vehicle passes and 15,000 electronic passes for delivery staff have been issued. The second “white list” of postal and courier firms will be unveiled soon.
Each deliveryman must wear personal protective equipment and take a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test and two antigen self-tests every day.
To ensure no infected employee continues to work, their electronic passes are valid only with negative PCR and antigen test results as well as a green health code.
Electronic passes for delivery vehicles and drivers are under strict supervision to ensure the vehicles aren’t used for other purposes.
All domestic parcels are disinfected three times at distribution centers, business outlets and prior to being delivered, respectively.
Parcels sent from Shanghai to other Chinese cities will be marked with disinfection labels and must wait for a day before being shipped.
Imported parcels are also thoroughly disinfected and wait for one day based on their content before being delivered.
People should check where their parcels came from, wear masks while receiving deliveries and wash their hands after opening them, Yu suggested.
Fewer cases
Shanghai’s daily infection tally dropped by 2.6 percent to 1,449 on Wednesday. Most were people still under lockdown or quarantine measures. Only two were detected in “precautionary areas.”
Despite the declining daily infection rate, there is still a risk of another resurgence, especially in old neighborhood communities and urban villages, Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said at the city government’s daily COVID-19 press conference yesterday.
Almost 18.3 million local residents, about 73 percent of the city’s population, are in “precautionary areas,” which are communities, villages, companies and sites without a positive case in the past two weeks.
The number of residents in “locked-down areas” is slightly less than 2 million, while about 3 million are in “controlled areas,” according to Zhao.
The city reported five more COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, with an average age of just over 89 years. All had severe underlying conditions, which was the cause of death, and none were vaccinated.
Of COVID-19 patients in local designated and makeshift hospitals, 349 have severe symptoms and 61 are in critical conditions.