Logistics company United Parcel Service Inc has suspended all pickup, delivery and self-pickup services in the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan after strict restrictions were imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The US-based company said in a statement that it has also decided to set aside imported shipments in provinces such as Fujian and Jiangsu for sanitization purposes. The transit time for shipments may be extended, it said.
Multiple Chinese provinces and cities have in recent days tightened restrictions in line with Beijing’s zero-tolerance goal of suppressing Covid-19 as quickly as possible.
A northeastern Chinese province on Monday (14 March) imposed a rare travel ban on its population as the region’s Omicron outbreak helped drive China’s tally of new local Covid-19 cases so far this year higher than any recorded in 2021.
Mainland China reported 1,337 new domestically transmitted Covid infections with confirmed symptoms on 13 March, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Monday. That brought the registered total this year to more than 9,000, compared with 8,378 in 2021, according to Reuters calculations.
The curbs have also forced FedEx Corp to make adjustments to its network, the company said in an emailed statement.
The service disruptions come after the two of the world’s largest logistics companies said last month, they are halting delivery service to Russia and Ukraine following Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine.
