Buses send groceries to neighborhoods in epidemic-hit Wuhan

Bus drivers clean buses in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Yuguo)

The city has imposed tough measures to contain the pathogen, restricting residents to self-quarantine at home.

WUHAN, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- More than 800 buses have been enlisted to send groceries to neighborhoods in Wuhan, the city hardest-hit by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and capital of central China's Hubei Province.

This has been one of the measures recently taken by the Hubei provincial department of commerce to ensure the "last milage" deliveries of daily necessities to the city's over 10 million residents.

The city has imposed tough measures to contain the pathogen, restricting residents to self-quarantine at home.

All urban public transportation services and outbound traffic channels at the airport and rail stations have been closed in the city since Jan. 23, two days before the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, to curb the spread of the deadly pathogen.

To facilitate residents' daily life, the provincial department of commerce has taken a variety of measures including organizing suppliers to pack every three varieties of vegetables into a parcel each weighing around 5 kg and with a price of 10 yuan (about 1.43 U.S. dollars) for household consumption.

Daily deliveries of such vegetable parcels in the city have reached 200,000 bags.

More than 1,800 tonnes of meat have recently been put into the market in Wuhan, with prices 15 percent lower than the ordinary market price, according to the department.

The authorities have allowed the Baishazhou Wholesale Market in the city to open three aquatic products sales outlets.

There are more than 30 e-commerce platforms providing home deliveries of fresh fruits, vegetables and daily necessities to citizens in Wuhan, with a daily distribution volume of about 300,000 orders.