After roughly a monthlong suspension of offline business due to Shanghai's recent COVID-19 outbreak, a few large supermarket chains in the city's Putuo district began reopening on Thursday to better meet people's needs.

China Daily arrived at the district's Zhenbei Road at around 8:30 am on Thursday, finding that a number of consumers carrying bags or dragging small trolleys were waiting for the Metro supermarket to open. The queue was arranged in a winding manner.

"The winding queue can help consumers maintain social distance and avoid crowding caused by lining up in a straight line," said Wang Hongyu, manager of the Metro, who added that the supermarket had made full preparations for resuming offline operations amid the epidemic.

According to Wang, all the consumers were residents living in neighborhoods in precautionary zones of the district's Changzheng town, and the time for the communities to come to shop had been prescribed.

To prevent crowds, the market is allowing 300 people at a time to shop for 45 minutes. Staff members will then disinfect some major areas, including the check-out area, the frozen food section and restrooms, in 15 minutes to ensure safety for the next wave of consumers, he said.

"While scanning their health codes, consumers also need to show their community pass cards and their invitation tickets from the supermarket before shopping," he added.