(Yicai Global) Dec. 21 -- Meal delivery platforms and express delivery companies in Shanghai are on a recruitment drive as online orders surge due to more people opting to stay home amid a fresh wave of Covid-19 as the country relaxes its pandemic prevention measures.

Meituan has recruited around 5,000 new deliverymen in Shanghai in the past week, the on-demand service giant said. Its food delivery app Meituan Waimai has shelled out CNY8 million (USD1.2 million) in bonuses to couriers in the city in the last seven days and is likely to pay another CNY20 million in rewards over the next month to boost manpower.

More people are staying home and ordering takeaways online as the novel coronavirus spreads like wildfire and as the weather gets colder, the Beijing-based firm said. Many deliverymen are also sick and cannot work, so there is a shortage of staff, it added. The company is hoping more people can sign up on its app Meituan Deliverymen to work as couriers.

Delivery firms are also hiring. Cainiao has upped its offer to casual workers to 20 percent higher than the usual daily rate, Su Lei, an employee at the logistics arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, told Yicai Global.

ZTO Express is recruiting part-time and casual deliverymen and encouraging those employees who have recovered from the virus to come back to work as soon as possible, it said. In the meantime, staff at the Shanghai-based delivery firm are working late into the night to deliver parcels and ease the backlog as much as possible.

JD.com’s express delivery arms JD Logistics and Dada Express are also busy employing new deliverymen and giving them bonuses to meet heightened demand amid the new wave, the e-commerce giant said. Both companies are disinfecting all sorting areas, devices, vehicles and packages to ensure that the deliveries are safe, it added.

JD Logistics’ couriers are working overtime to deliver more packages and the Beijing-based firm is hiring more casual workers to get through the busy period smoothly.

Editor: Kim Taylor