Coronavirus: Hong Kong delivery workers in short supply as logistic firms, online retailers face mounting pressure amid panic buying spree
- E-commerce platform HKTVmall struggles to make deliveries as workers test positive for coronavirus, placed in quarantine
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Hong Kong’s recent skyrocketing Covid-19 infections have sparked a manpower crunch and thrown the city’s supply chains into disarray, forcing online retailer HKTVmall and logistics firm SF Express to curtail delivery services.
The logistics sector suffered a severe shortage of personnel due to frontline workers becoming infected or isolated as close contacts as Hong Kong on Friday logged more than 50,000 confirmed cases for the third consecutive day.
The situation was exacerbated by a wave of panic buying at supermarkets and pharmacies in anticipation of a potential lockdown as part of citywide testing measures.
HKTVmall, founded by businessman Ricky Wong Wai-kay, is among the casualties after receiving a flood of cancelled orders and complaints from customers over undelivered or late goods.
The e-commerce platform said it needed at least two weeks to fulfil all of its orders, in contrast to a previous delivery time of up to two days, adding its vendors and logistics partners were also suffering from staff shortages, further extending waiting times.
“Amid the severity of the pandemic, HKTVmall has been facing unprecedented operational difficulties. The number of infections has risen drastically, among them many are our colleagues,” it said on Facebook on Thursday. “Our delivery service has faced unprecedentedly mounting pressure.”