COVID-19 in China: Food supply and lax regulations cause for concern as government pushed ‘return to normalcy’

In April, the Chinese government​ pushed for a ‘return to normalcy’ for what it deems ‘low-risk’ COVID-19-affected areas within the country, but faced multiple challenges in the form of public anxiety over food security and relaxed control measures.

China’s Wuhan was the first epicentre of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and as of April 8, the country as a whole had recorded over 81,000 cases and 3,333 deaths. Its strict control measures implemented since January had helped it to fall behind the United States and European countries such as Spain and Italy.

But in the past few weeks, food supply and security had surfaced as a pressing new concern within the country, especially with multiple countries such as Vietnam and India stopping food exports.

In addition, documents that were purportedly leaked on social media from a high-level committee meeting at Linxia prefecture revealed orders for special arrangements to be made to ‘ensure food security’ locally.