Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung on March 21 had a meeting with Hanoi Department of industry and Trade and local businesses to discuss supply of essential goods in the city amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

People are shopping at a supermarket to reserve foodstuffs due to Covid-19.

At the meeting, the Department of Industry and Trade presented a plan to supply basic necessities for mass isolation areas and the possibility of bringing supplies from other provinces and cities. 

According to the department, local suppliers and manufacturers are requested not to allow scarcity in their distribution systems. Big retailing groups such as Central Retail ( which runs Big C and Lan Chi supermarket chains), BRG Group (which runs Hapro, Intimex, Seika marts), and Duc Thanh mart chains have increased by 300-500% their stock of essential goods and foodstuffs.

Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Tran Thi Phuong Lan said that the department has worked out four scenarios for preparing goods supply.

The first scenario is to supply goods for 200 residents in isolation in a district and 2,350 residents under home quarantine. Goods trade is still as usual.

The second one is for one thousand people in five mass isolation areas in a district and over 12 thousand residents in home quarantine. The demand for goods will increase but there will be no major changes in the market.

The third one is for more than 20 infected cases in the city and two thousand people in 10 mass isolation areas and nearly 130 thousand residents in home isolation. 

According to the department, under this scenario, there might be a local shortage of goods due to the increasing number of people purchasing goods at a time. To ensure supply, the department will constantly regulate the distribution system in the city.

The fourth one is for one thousand infected cases in the city, each district has one to five quarters under lockdown with a total population of three thousand and more than 380 thousand residents in home isolation. 

In this scenario, some commercial centers, supermarkets, convenience stores and wet markets in the quarters under lockdown could have to temporarily be closed. For the possible surge in demand, in addition to the amount of stored goods, the department will bring goods from other provinces and cities.

“Stored goods are enough for supply in Hanoi for 2-3 months,” Lan from the department said.