BEIJING : From e-commerce giant JD.com to cosmetics brand Sephora, companies in China are rushing to minimise the impact of surging COVID infections - doling out test kits, encouraging more work from home and, in some cases, procuring truckloads of medicine.
"More than half of our staff in the mall and the hotel are positive," said a senior executive at a firm that manages one of Beijing's largest retail complexes. JD.com, which is headquartered in Beijing and employs more than 540,000 people, has sent antigen test kits to its staff and is asking those who are sick to stay home, sources at the company told Reuters.
"It's deeply frustrating. Businesses are having to close due to staff being sick, even though they can legally be open," said Noah Fraser, Beijing-based managing director at the Canada-China Business Council. At Volkswagen, which has seen its plants in China heavily disrupted by lockdowns this year, production is currently stable but the automaker has reduced office attendance and is asking staff to stay 1.5 metres apart whenever possible, a spokesperson said.