Covid-19: How China’s army of food delivery drivers helped keep country going during outbreak

Buying and paying for meals and supplies online was already second nature for many Chinese before the Covid-19 lockdown. The supply and delivery networks that were already in place were able to work with the authorities in cities like Wuhan. — SCMP

When Liu Yilin, a retired middle schoolteacher in Wuhan, first heard rumours of a highly contagious disease spreading in the central Chinese city he started to stock up on supplies such as rice, oil, noodles and dried pork and fish.

These preparations spared the 66-year-old from some of the early panic when the city went into lockdown in late January and shoppers flooded to the markets and malls to snap up supplies.