Like several other countries, AliExpress has a huge customer base in Pakistan as well. “Orders not shipped from the Chinese e-commerce giant” is a common unfortunate discussion among customers in Pakistan. But this usually is caused due to a bad shipping method chosen. Shipping methods with a tiny fee mostly get delivered in time. However, the rise of undelivered orders has been reported in recent weeks.
With no official information on hand, customers have no idea what’s taking longer for their orders to be delivered. With that being an issue, we can talk about the coronavirus being the reason behind it. Why it could be real reason?
We have a bunch of reports claiming there is no way that coronavirus could contain on a package and transmit through one host to the other. Experts have also explained that many viruses without a host die within hours.
Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told NPR that shipping conditions of most products are going to be not conducive to the virus remaining viable.
“Some viruses do survive longer than others — and conditions such as temperature, humidity and surface material can influence how long a virus lives,” explains Dr. Amesh Adalja.
So what could make the orders from AliExpress or any other e-commerce platform, that ship from China, are having trouble to be delivered?
The simple answer is that it’s because of the safety precautions. After having my own orders being stuck somewhere en route, I finally asked the postman who usually comes to deliver in time at home or even when he meets me anywhere around in the town — yes, Pakistan Post’s delivery guys are respectful and friendly, in straight words “Have the shipments from China been halted?” Yes, he answered more to the point. There is only one reason, why.
The fears of coronavirus have reached the discussion if the 2019-nCoV (or formally COVID-19) could spread through the air. Though not evident, a Chinese health official has suggested that it could spread more easily than they thought. “Confirmed transmission routes of the novel coronavirus include direct transmission, contact transmission, and aerosol transmission,” stated in the announcement.
However, sooner after that, they corrected the statement noting that the novel coronavirus has no definitive answer to be an airborne virus.
To understand the situation we cannot rely on whether the virus could travel through non-living things or objects and live or not for hours. There are more factors around an object — surface, air, and man to man communication while handing over the packages.
Let me put it straight!
Even if the said virus can’t travel all the way from China, reach your doorstep, and end up infecting you, it doesn’t guarantee if it won’t infect people before being shipped or midway. This, however, can explain why the shipments are better being halted right where they are.
So if you are a customer waiting for a month-old order to be delivered and haven’t seen any status update in tracking. It may mean you are not going to get it soon or at all.
Let us know in the comments below if you have (or have not) received an order recently from AliExpress or any other platform.