China asks people to sign up as delivery riders after zero-Covid pivot unleashed a wave of infections

Local authorities in Beijing, Shanghai and other municipalities have called on healthy citizens to help deliver food takeouts, as more riders call in sick

While a severe labour shortage has hit the on-demand service sector, orders have also surged as people stay home and shop online to avoid infections

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Delivery workers wait to cross a street in the Jing’an district in Shanghai on Monday. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30pm, 22 Dec 2022Updated: 2:34am, 23 Dec 2022

China is running out of delivery people amid a wave of Covid-19 infections, and local governments are mobilising citizens to help.

As the country has started to unwind its draconian zero-Covid measures, a surge in coronavirus infections has led to a severe labour shortage across all industries, with the on-demand services sector, which has become a vital part of urban life, experiencing the most severe disruption.

Courier firms in China received 315 million orders and delivered 324 million parcels last Friday, down 7.4 per cent and 15.2 per cent, respectively, from a day earlier, according to the Ministry of Transport. At a JD.com delivery station in Beijing’s Sanyuanqiao area, an employee said Covid-19 had swept through the outpost, affecting all of its nine full-time workers.

“Everyone of us was Covid-positive earlier,” the employee said.

JD.com workers sort packages in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

A Beijing resident surnamed Wang said his bakery in Xicheng district started to see orders clogged up in the second week of December, when the capital city lifted most pandemic control measures.