Chinese women from a range of professions, including nurses and journalists, are joining in the fight against the novel coronavirus in central China’s Hubei province.

One of these women is Zhong Xiaofeng, head nurse at the intensive care department of Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, who has worked in ICU for 16 years. After the epidemic outbreak, Zhong and her team battled against the virus for more than 60 days.

"One of the things I remember most was another nurse in soaking wet clothes, squatting on the ground and crying. She cried not because she was tired, but because one of her patients who she had been taking care of for over one month finally regained consciousness. With tears streaming down her face, she said that she felt her hard work had been worth it,” Zhong recalled.

"Through our efforts, patients can recover. Sometimes a look, or a simple movement will give us more confidence to continue our fight," she added.

Zhong Xiaofeng admitted that she sometimes felt exhausted when she thought of her elderly parents and young children. But for her, the ICU was the last line of defense, and she knew she was in a race of life and death.

Liao Jun, a reporter with the Xinhua News Agency, has been reporting from the front line of the epidemic outbreak since Dec. 30, 2019.

The person who impressed Liao Jun the most in recent days is Wang Xiaoting, an attending doctor at Wuchang Hospital.

Wang stayed in a hotel after work, as she wanted to isolate herself from her family. Afraid of infecting her husband, she would not get into the car with him, leaving him no choice but to drive silently behind her to escort her there.

“This is all written in my articles and will always stick in my mind,” Liao said, adding that in the fight against the virus, her duty as a journalist is to tell the world the stories of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.