A sketch of Yan Peilin, a manager of a Wu Mart chain store in Hangzhou, carrying a basket of goods [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

Yan said that less than half of the workers returned to work during the Spring Festival while sales were much larger than usual, leading to a heavier work load, which is why he has been  helping other workers. 

Yan also commended other devoted workers, one of whom has been sleeping on a piece of cardboard at the supermarket for over a month, another has called on his family members to help and another has been working during the day while taking care of her sick father at night.

The store sold vegetables and meat worth 42,000 yuan and 76,000 yuan in February, up 31.47 percent and 85.9 percent year-on-year.

To ensure supplies in emergencies, Wang Guoyong, deputy director of the Zhejiang Institute of Industry and Information Technology, believes that attention should be paid to guiding companies to change production lines to increase capacity, strengthening cooperation between companies in the industrial chain, and sharing information between different departments. 

Zhang Ximing, director of the consumption and circulation center of Zhejiang Academy of Commerce, added that local authorities should speed up the strengthening of laws and regulations to ensure supplies in emergencies and improve the supply chains and monitoring systems.