COVID-19 APAC lockdowns: F&B manufacturing an ‘essential service’ in some countries – but not enough
When governments started implementing COVID-19 lockdowns to control outbreaks earlier this year, the F&B manufacturing sector was classified as an ‘essential service’ by many APAC countries, enabling factories to continue producing food supplies – but this was not seen in some places which needed the supply the most.
Many countries in the APAC region enforced nationwide lockdowns in an attempt to control the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. The initial implementation of lockdowns saw the F&B industry in many countries scrambling to get confirmation about whether or not F&B manufacturing would be able to continue operations and gain access to public COVID-19 support, which would only be made possible if these were classified as ‘essential services’.
It soon became clear that although some countries allowed F&B manufacturing and logistics to continue, food supply woes still loomed large, especially in some of the countries that need this security the most.
Read the full story here to see a summary of the situations in various countries at the height of the pandemic in APAC.