People resume their work amid epidemic

As more delivery companies have normalized their operations and a growing number of people are encouraged to work from home, people begin to resume their work amid the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, according to a Tuesday report from The Beijing News.

Some 13 delivery companies, including ZTO Express, YTO Express, STO Express and Yunda Express, have returned to normal operations, the report said.

In Beijing, many couriers who return from their hometowns in advance must be quarantined for a period of time before their work.

"Our company also required that we have to be 2 meters away from our customers during delivery to ensure the safety of each other," said a deliveryman who was quoted in the report.

One problem that delivery companies face is the shortage of hands. Xu Fei, a person in charge at a branch of Yunda Express in Beijing, said in the report that at present, more than half of couriers of the branch have been at their work, and about a dozen are still quarantined at home due to traffic control and other reasons.

"In our industry, if someone does a good job, he/she will introduce the work to relatives or people who live at the same village, so many couriers live near each other in their hometowns. In this way, a quarantined courier means a group of people cannot come to work," Xu said.

According to a plan, the country's delivery industry should be restored to over 40 percent of its normal capacity in mid-February, said the State Post Bureau in the report. In addition, postal management will coordinate with relevant departments to solve problems during the epidemic, such as the permits for vehicles to pass through, couriers going into residence communities for delivery,and the use of smart delivery lockers.

On the other hand, more people have to stay indoors and work from home for the disease prevention and control.

However, taking care of babies, occasional disturbances by family members, long hours spent on video conferences and the blurred line between work and life make working from home not as easy as imaged, the report said.

Even so, the home office shows its strength during the closing of brick and mortar stores.

"Nearly 1,000 shopping guides have been invited to promote and sell goods via livestreaming on Taobao at home," said a saleswoman from Intime Department Store who was quoted in the report.

"Usually I can only serve one customer at a time when working behind the counter. Now I can serve hundreds of people at a time by livestreaming," she said.