China's Xian Assured All Basic Necessities To Weather New COVID-19 Outbreak - Authorities

China's Xian Assured All Basic Necessities to Weather New COVID-19 Outbreak - Authorities

The Chinese authorities have ensured a stable and seamless supply of basic necessities to the Chinese city of Xian located in the Shaanxi province, where a lockdown was imposed due to a new COVID-19 outbreak, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday

BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th December, 2021) The Chinese authorities have ensured a stable and seamless supply of basic necessities to the Chinese city of Xian located in the Shaanxi province, where a lockdown was imposed due to a new COVID-19 outbreak, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday.

"The Xian City commerce authority, in response to the problems with supplies of basic necessities, which had arisen at an early stage, took active measures to coordinate and address the problems. Currently, Xian generally has enough basic necessities," Gao said at a press conference.

Gao also noted that after the COVID-19 outbreak in the city, the ministry launched a mechanism to ensure supplies to Xian from Anhui, Shandong, Hainan, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, as well as from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. According to the spokesman, the authorities created a special platform to coordinate the transportation of basic necessities between the provinces and to optimize supply chains.

Gao added that, depending on the further development of the epidemiological situation, the ministry will take the necessary measures to ensure a seamless supply of basic necessities to the city's residents and to maintain price stability.

On December 9, Xian registered the COVID-19 outbreak. On December 22, the local authorities announced the lockdown to contain a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. So far, over 1,000 COVID-19 cases have been registered in the city. Residents of the city are currently prohibited to leave their homes, except in cases of emergency. Every family is allowed to select only one member to buy food and essential goods once in two days. The movement of public transport is stopped.

Amid the lockdown, the authorities of the city registered cases of malpractice by trade networks and online food delivery platforms, which took advantage of the situation to raise the price of basic necessities. The hashtag #Can'tGetFoodInXian gained popularity on Chinese social networks.

Amid such situation, the local authorities urged large trade chains and online food delivery platforms to stabilize their food prices and provide the population with basic needs during the lockdown.