WUHAN, Feb 8 (NNN-XINHUA) – Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, is combing communities to ensure every confirmed or suspected patient is located and attended to, as a senior official vowed to nail any official deserter “to history’s pillar of shame.”
A conference on epidemic control, ordered the mega city, with a population of over 10 million, to make all-out efforts to locate patients, confirmed or suspected, to be infected with the virus, close contacts of confirmed cases, as well as, patients with fever.
Once identified, these people must be treated or placed in quarantine in a timely manner, the conference said, adding that “no family or individual shall be neglected.”
City officials said, checkpoints are being set up outside every community and apartment building, to measure residents’ body temperatures, while community workers and volunteers are paying house-to-house visits to conduct checks.
Fever patients found in the process will be escorted to community clinics, which will decide whether they should be quarantined at home or be sent to other isolation areas. Police will step in, if a patient refuses to obey quarantine rules and all persuasion fails.
The citywide mobilisation, echoed the call of Chinese Vice Premier, Sun Chunlan, who stressed that, the various prevention and control measures must be strictly implemented, like in wartime.
While inspecting Jianghan District in Wuhan, Sun demanded officials at all levels, prioritise the epidemic fight “as the most important and pressing task” and forego bureaucratic practices of formalities, for formalities’ sake.
Any deserter in the fight will be forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame, she said.
Over 20,000 residents are observing at-home quarantine in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, which has been sealed off since late Jan, to contain the spread of the 2019-nCov, according to the city government.
The city has since grabbed the nation’s headlines, with the heroism of its medical workers and the great sacrifice and resignation of local residents, during the unprecedented lock-down.
The latest community mobilisation, joined by legions of community workers and volunteers, is expected to lighten the burden of Wuhan’s hospitals, which are struggling to cope with the influx of patients and a lack of medical resources.
By Thursday, the province of Hubei had 22,112 confirmed cases of the virus, including 11,618 in Wuhan. The country has sent 10,596 medical workers into Hubei, to assist the epidemic control, while local authorities said, another 2,250 medical practitioners are still needed.
Community workers in Wuhan told Xinhua that, in response to some residents’ fears of close contact during home visits, they are also using telephones and instant messaging apps to contact local families.
On Friday (yesterday) afternoon, community worker, Gao Bo, was seen speaking to a residential building in Caidian District, through a loudspeaker, asking two families to write their conditions and contact numbers on paper and drop it out of their windows.
“Residents fear close contact, so we ask them to drop the notes and then keep in touch via phone,” Gao said.
Liu Jie, who lives in Wuhan’s Dongxihu District, said, he initially frowned upon inspectors’ visits, as each such visit will cost the six-member family six disposable masks, which have been in tight supply in many Chinese cities since the virus outbreak.
Liu has not left his community since Jan 22, faithfully obeying the official instruction to stay at home, to reduce infection risks. The community’s property management company, offered to purchase vegetables and other daily necessities for residents and deliver them to their doorsteps.
“The furthest place I’ve been in the past weeks is the dust bin at the doorstep,” Liu said. “We understand that it is imperative for the city to quarantine all confirmed and suspected patients. And we know it’s important to fulfil our own duties, like daily reports of fever.”
