The China government is reportedly encouraging their people to stock up on daily necessities in case of an emergency.
Reuters reports:
The Chinese government has told families to keep daily necessities in stock in case of emergencies, after COVID-19 outbreaks and unusually heavy rains that caused a surge in vegetable prices raised concerns about supply shortages.
The commerce ministry directive late on Monday stirred some concern on domestic social media that it may have been triggered by heightened tensions with Taiwan, while some said people were rushing to stock up on rice, cooking oil and salt.
“As soon as this news came out, all the old people near me went crazy panic buying in the supermarket,” wrote one user on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.Local media has also recently published lists of recommended goods to store at home including biscuits and instant noodles, vitamins, radios and flashlights.
We’ve seen this before. Last year when COVID broke out the stores in China and Hong Kong faced shortages in a number of products.
