SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – Alibaba (NYSE) Freshippo supermarket chain said that Sunday’s announcement by Freshippo indicated it would add couriers to Shanghai in response to high demand, but not in time for the growing needs of Shanghai’s residents locked down as the city struggles with a rise in COVID-19.

Shen Li (Vice President at Alibaba Group’s Freshippo) told reporters that the company’s delivery capabilities had increased by about 60%-70% since the outbreak, but there was still a lot of difficulty.

According to her, “The greatest challenge that we now face is that consumers have increased their demand for goods and services by approximately two-to three times the pre-outbreak level.”

China’s top economic hub is keeping most residents in China’s 25 million population under lockdown for over three weeks. This was done to eradicate the largest virus outbreak in China since late 2019 in Wuhan.

Many residents turned to online shopping to buy food after the closing of most stores and supermarkets in the area. However, they faced many difficulties. Shanghai authorities claim they have been working hard to reduce these bottlenecks. However, this is still an issue that frustrates many people.

Residents have shared stories of waking up at 5 AM to grab delivery slots with online grocers like Freshippo only to discover that they were sold out within seconds. Some people are unhappy about Freshippo’s bulk-buying purchasing schemes. However, others have voiced their dissatisfaction at not being able to order the required volumes.

Shen stated that Freshippo had 47 online stores in Shanghai as of Sunday and six more ad-hoc warehouses. This was due to problems with interprovince supply chain.

She added that about 5,000 employees were employed in these warehouses and stores, with another 1,000 working from home.