Some shopping malls in Shanghai have resumed services online as the city continues to enforce lockdown measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

The city of 25 million residents, considered one of the most developed Chinese cities and the financial hub of China, has been hit by COVID-19 since March. 

On Saturday, Shanghai reported 1,401 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 19,657 local asymptomatic carriers, respectively down from 2,736 and 20,634, as reported on Friday.

More than 200 shops in Global Harbor, the biggest shopping mall in the city center, have reopened to provide "group-buying" purchases for residents since April 18.

The restaurant chain "Kwei Mun Lung" is the one that is providing online orders. Last week, 15 staff were back at work – but only to sell fresh vegetables and frozen semi-cooked food for group buying orders in communities.

They are taking 500 orders a day, even more than their delivery orders before the outbreak. 

Han Huixiao, store manager of the restaurant, said selling fresh vegetables instead of cooked meals is due to the weak delivery capacity at the current moment.

"Previously, an order could be delivered in 30 minutes, but now it's much longer. But we can guarantee quality by selling fresh vegetables instead of cooked food," Han said. 

Global Harbor has remained closed for almost a month. Allowing brick-and-mortar shops to reopen is seen as a way to help them tackle operational problems.

"[The resumption] meets customers' needs and helps stores to sell their goods. Their sales volume is up [by] three to four times," Wu Xuefen, executive vice president of Global Harbor Business Group, told CGTN. 

Such an increase in delivery orders stems from the high demand for food supplies and daily necessities of Shanghai residents as most parts of the city are still under closed-off management.

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In addition to these brick-and-mortar shops that are gradually opening, e-commerce companies have also dispatched more delivery drivers in town to ensure delivery capacity. So far, more than 20,000 delivery drivers are running in town, some of whom were even dispatched from other cities across the country.