Sales are soaring for Alibaba’s fresh-food chain Freshippo in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

With many Chinese nationals being advised to stay at home during the course of the epidemic, demand for fresh food and household items has soared. Buyers are purchasing more items in bulk so as to reduce contact with home-delivery personnel.

A spokesperson for Freshippo revealed that it has prepared 250 tons of packaged vegetables and 80 tons of bulk vegetables for around 50 Shanghai stores, six times above its normal volume, according to a Shine.cn report. 

Freshippo’s head of vegetable procurement Huang Yifan said that the group is planning to ship an extra 100 tons of fresh vegetables from its supplier farm regions every day.

Similar increases have been reported by Walmart’s delivery business in the region, JD Daojia, with reports of a five-fold increase in sales volume.