Over the past 20 days, Chongqing residents' demand for daily necessities has soared due to the impact of the new round of the Covid-19 epidemic. Chongqing has to make a sufficient supply of material subsistence.

Key suppliers set up supply guarantee points

"I want a cabbage, three radishes, five tomatoes, two yams, a bag of rice, and a piece of pork. Thank you,"  Ms. Zhang said to an employee at Jianshecun Branch of New Century Supermarket behind the east gate of Duoli Mingdu Community in Jiulong Sub-district in Jiulongpo District at 10 am on November 28.

The employee was deft in picking up the groceries, calculating the price and packaging, and handing them over to Ms. Zhang from the temporary "supply guarantee station" outside the community. Ms. Zhang scanned the QR code for payment and expressed her gratitude.

There are about 2,550 households in Duoli Mingdu Community, with a resident population of about 10,000. Tens of thousands of residents found it difficult to get groceries because the community was locked down several days ago. Informed of the situation, Luo Xiaoqin, manager of a supermarket, negotiated with officials of Jiulong Sub-district. Because the store is only one street from this community, it set up a guaranteed point outside the east gate of the community on November 9.

"Since establishing the supply guarantee station, we have tried our best to provide various supplies for the residents, and five or six employees are stationed at the point every day. So far, over 26 tons of groceries have been supplied," Luo Xiaoqin said.

There are many other guarantee points like it. According to Long Yan, operation director of New Century Supermarket, New Century had set up 265 "supply guarantee stations" across the city as of November 28. The number of supplies will be adjusted in real-time according to the change in the number of locked-down communities.

The establishment of supply guarantee points is just one of the measures launched by Chongqing's key suppliers to ensure a sufficient supply of material subsistence for locked-down communities.

The relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce said that the total daily necessities required in downtown Chongqing amounted to 14,000 tons, including 7,000 tons of vegetables, 5,000 tons of rice, noodles, and oil, 1,000 tons of fruits, and 1,000 tons of meat. At present, Chongqing's local production and supply capacity, as well as the capacity and quantity of sourcing from outside the city, are beyond the needs of residents in the central urban area. Vegetables, grain, oil, fruit, and meat are all in sufficient supply.

Ensure the smooth delivery of necessities

"The list is beneficial." On November 26, Peng Yongzhang, a resident of Liangjiang New Area, called a fresh food store near the community. The staff at the store got him into a WeChat group where people can buy the groceries they want.

Liangjiang New Area promoted the mode of centralized procurement and distribution by sorting out the suppliers near communities and sending the list to residents. In the district, eight sub-districts have provided the telephones of more than 300 suppliers. Behind it is a vast security network.

Since the outbreak, Liangjiang New Area has issued nearly 10,000 passes to ensure sufficient supplies and smooth distribution. It has carried out closed-loop management and door-to-door nucleic acid testing for 24 supermarkets and 1,340 grocery and convenience stores to maintain a high attendance rate of supply guarantee personnel.

Jiangbei District, for example, has built a database with a "white list" of 121 suppliers of daily necessities, which has now served all of its sub-districts and towns. Also, Jiangbei District and 22 key suppliers at the district level have signed a letter of responsibility for supply guarantee and selected 81 outlets, such as Yonghui and New Century Supermarket, for daily emergency necessities.

Cooperation between e-commerce platforms and supermarkets 

Zhang Yi, who lives in Nan'an District, took home a cabbage and a pack of painkillers from the non-contact delivery point of the community at noon on November 28.

Online supermarkets and e-commerce platforms have launched cooperation measures to facilitate online shopping for residents.

For example, Meituan Youxuan initiated cooperation immediately with merchants to guarantee supply. It has also developed a strict sanitation and cleaning plan for sterilizing key spots in the warehouse and required product delivery personnel and warehouse personnel to wear masks and measure body temperature.

Workforce support is needed in large quantities to deliver the many goods ordered online to consumers. More than 2,000 supply guarantee personnel are now involved in warehousing, delivery, and distribution in Chongqing.