On Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, users are complaining that their packages have been held up for weeks. “My mom asked me why she hasn’t seen the slippers that I ordered. I told her they are under quarantine in Yiwu,” one user wrote.

A representative for Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, said the company was storing newly-arrived products at its Shanghai warehouse to keep operations running smoothly. At its bonded warehouse in Yiwu, all employees are under quarantine at home following the Covid-19 control measures, the representative said.

Jakarta-based J&T Express said it has started processing the backlog of parcels in Yiwu. An employee at J&T in Yiwu, who declined to be named, said only a few pickup stations have reopened, with the majority still in “silent mode”.

ZTO Express, STO Express and SF Express did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yiwu, a manufacturing hub known for socks and Christmas decorations, is one of the most important logistics hubs for delivery companies in China because shipping prices are about one third less than the nationwide average.

For local authorities, it has been difficult finding a balance between the country’s dynamic zero Covid-19 policy and the economic imperative of keeping businesses running.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant meant that to comply with Beijing’s strict zero-Covid-19 policy, local authorities across the country had to shut down entire cities in the early stage of any outbreak to stop the spread of the virus.

After the eastern financial hub of Shanghai lifted a two-month citywide lockdown in June, multiple provinces and cities, including Hainan, Xinjiang, and Tibet, have been under different levels of lockdown as Covid-19 cases resurged.

Before the latest outbreak, the Yiwu government was making efforts to reconnect with overseas buyers. At the end of July, a chartered flight carrying 163 merchants from Pakistan landed in the city, according to the local official newspaper Jinhua Daily. On August 9, a chartered flight with 107 Indian merchants arrived, according to a notice on the Yiwu government’s official WeChat account.

A Yiwu-based live-streamer surnamed Zheng, who would not give his full name when speaking to the media about sensitive matters, said he has not been able to conduct any sessions since August 5 when his neighbourhood went into lockdown.

“We get grocery supplies from the government every three days, but express delivery services have been suspended,” he said, adding that the normal food delivery system is also not available since all restaurants are closed.

A report in state-owned Beijing Business Today on Monday said some merchants have moved their products to Jinhua, a nearby city in Zhejiang, but available resources are still very limited. “Everything happened so fast so we were not ready for [the lockdown],” a Yiwu merchant surnamed Li was quoted as saying.

Late Thursday night, the Yiwu government posted a notice saying it was preparing to lift the lockdown. “The battle has entered a final stage, and we need to stay alert and vigilant,” it said.