On February 19, Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China, State Post Bureau of the People’s Republic of China and China Post Group Co., Ltd. issue an urgent notice, calling for speeding up the resumption of work and production, ensuring the priority and convenience of postal express vehicles and last mile delivery, so as to strengthen the protection of front-line personnel, better support the epidemic prevention and control, material transportation, the restoration of economic order and further guarantee the needs of production and daily life.

The notice points out that the epidemic prevention and control is at the most arduous and critical stage at present. Postal express bears the basic service function for the public, and is a key service industry during the period of epidemic prevention and control, which is of great significance to implement the requirements of stabilities concerning employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign capital, investment and expectation, and ensure normal economic operation and basic living needs of people. Local transportation and postal administrations should accelerate the resumption of production. The departments concerned should actively report to the local Party Committees and governments or the epidemic prevention and control leading groups, so as to get priority to the work resumption of post and express delivery enterprises and speed up the work resumption of mail processing centers and business outlets. The conditions for production resumption of postal industry should be reasonably decided in accordance with the unified deployment of the CPC and the risk level of epidemic prevention and control at the county level determined by each region. Industry guidance should be strengthened in different regions and levels, and postal and express enterprises be urged to accurately formulate resumption plan and pick up the speed of work and production resumption after the approval of the local Party Committees and governments or the epidemic prevention and control leading groups. Besides, postal and express enterprises should earnestly assume the main responsibility for safety control, establish the most strict post responsibility system, and strictly implement the epidemic prevention and control measures such as on duty inspection, inspection after returning to work and so on.

The notice stresses that local transportation administrations should guarantee the priority and convenience of postal express vehicles. The free-toll policy for postal express vehicles should be fully implemented during the epidemic prevention and control period, granting exemption from stop, inspection and charges and providing priority and convenient access. Meanwhile, drivers for vehicles undertaking universal postal service, special service and emergency material transportation, shall be immediately released after necessary rapid temperature detection, vehicle disinfection and information registration according to the relevant provisions. Drivers in charge of trunk transportation shall be managed by their own companies, and shall not be put into quarantine or urged to return due to their round-trip between different cities or provinces.

The notice also stresses that the local transportation and postal administrations should ensure the last mile delivery, and related policies should be made for such purpose, striving to meet people’s normal delivery needs. In low-risk areas, normal delivery should be fully restored. In medium-risk areas, on the basis of strengthening health protection management, postmen and couriers should be allowed to enter communities and properties for delivery. In the areas where smart express lockers are set up, postmen and couriers should be given the priority of delivering mails through designated routes after they have finished the entry and exit registration, temperature measurement, wearing masks, etc. For the areas without smart express lockers, a specific place should be designated for collecting and delivering express mails, and the experience and practices of fixed-point collection and delivery, scheduled delivery, etc., should be promoted so as to reduce the direct contact between people. In those high-risk areas, relevant convenience measures should be provided for postmen and couriers to pick up and deliver mails, and mail collection and delivery should not be banned based on one-size-fits-all approach. Any situations hampering normal delivery, such as illegal checkpoints and transport cutting-off of the villages should be reported to the local public security department in a timely manner.

The notice requires local transportation and postal administrations should strengthen the protection of front-line employees. Epidemic prevention and control materials for the front-line postal employees should be guaranteed through active coordination with relevant departments and strict implementation of the requirements of the State Council. Besides, postal and express enterprises ought to be guided to give priority to providing masks, gloves and other protective articles for the couriers, drivers, loaders and other relevant employees who carry out the tasks of last mile delivery and emergency materials transportation in key epidemic areas, so as to ensure the health and safety of the front-line employees.