Hubei lockdown exposes chronic issues in logistics

Some residents in Central China’s Hubei Province have complained about high prices and the chaotic delivery of daily necessities amid community lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19. The issues have reflected problems that have always existed but have been masked by the epidemic, local residents and community workers said.

Government officials in Xiaogan, a city 70 kilometers north of Wuhan and hard hit by the virus, on Friday vowed to lower the prices of daily necessities after a gathering due to insufficient food supplies was held at a residential community on Thursday night.

On Wednesday, the residential committee of a Wuhan community was found to have transported frozen meat allocated by the government in rubbish trucks. Delivered meat was later recalled by local government and destroyed. Two officials have been removed from office and are being investigated.

The complete lockdown policy for residential compounds, aimed at controlling the movement of residents and preventing the spread of COVID-19, was imposed on February 10 in Wuhan and extended to the whole province on February 16.

Logistics difficulties have always existed, but attracted increased attention and became more acute after the urgent need for medical resources was addressed, Wang Lushan, a community worker from Jianghan district in Wuhan, told the Global Times on Friday.

In response to the rubbish truck controversy, Wang said that communities do not have access to vehicles other than rubbish trucks and small vans and coordination relies on the district’s government.

The shortage of hands has been eased and supplies are not as tight as they were a month ago, but some communities have not straightened out their work processes, Wang said.