Chinese abandon food delivery fearing drivers will spread virus

A driver for Ele.me, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's food-delivery platform, riding a motorcycle across an intersection in Shanghai, China, on Feb 3, 2020. As the coronavirus death toll rises, food delivery drivers are being shunned as potential carriers of the disease. — Bloomberg

The deadly coronavirus is disrupting China’s enormous food-delivery networks, complicating daily life for millions and straining businesses integral to its economy.

Over the last decade, the food-delivery industry became far more pervasive in China than in any other country, serving more than 500 million customers and employing three million delivery drivers. But as the virus death toll rises, those peripatetic workers, in trademark blue and yellow jackets, are being shunned as potential carriers of the disease.