Free Republic

In multiple cities across China, locals have emptied store shelves, stockpiling rice and cooking oil as fears of food shortages accelerate. Mr. Li, a resident of Ezhou, a city in Hubei Province, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that locals have been rushing to buy rice for the past two days. It’s the same scene in other cities in Hubei, including Wuhan, Huanggang, and Yichang, according to social media and Chinese media reports. Officials have stepped in to try to ease the panic. On March 31, the market regulation bureau of the municipal government in Ezhou urged, in a statement on...

Chinese “wet markets” have reportedly reopened, selling cats, bats, and dogs for human consumption. A Mail on Sunday correspondent reported seeing meat markets open back up for business after the Chinese government ordered a ban on the sale of wild animals such as bats following reports they may have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus. “The markets have gone back to operating in exactly the same way as they did before coronavirus,” said a correspondent in Dongguan. “The only difference is that security guards try to stop anyone taking pictures which would never have happened before.”