Feature: Community volunteers join epidemic control

WUHAN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- For the past week, Zhang Jintao's voice could be heard every morning starting from 8 a.m. at his community's nucleic acid testing site, reminding residents to wear masks properly and maintain an appropriate distance from each other while queuing.

Zhang, a resident in Xiantao City, central China's Hubei Province, is neither a medical staff member nor a community worker. Instead, the 48-year-old truck driver is a member of the Duliu residential community's newly established volunteer team.

As of Thursday, the city had 79 local asymptomatic cases under medical observation.

"The last time Xiantao reported local COVID-19 cases was in early 2020, and that's why I'm more or less nervous and want to do something within my reach," Zhang explained, adding that the other reason why he decided to volunteer was his wife, Li Shumei.

Li is a local community worker. Since the Duliu community was placed under temporary closed-off management on Oct. 5, she has been organizing daily nucleic acid tests, making phone calls to do epidemiological investigation as well as helping residents in need to buy groceries and medicine.

"Seeing how busy and tired my wife has been, I feel that I have to do something to help her," Zhang said.

Zhang is not alone. According to Du Zhihong, Party secretary of Duliu Community, there are 14,321 residents in the community, but only 28 community staff.

It was almost impossible for the community staff to keep so many residents in good order without the assistance of over 80 volunteers including Zhang, said Du.

Many Party members have also been on the frontline in the fight against the epidemic resurgence.

At 11 p.m., after Xu Manli finished epidemiological information collection from door to door in Hanlingongguan Community, she found that her mouth was parched from talking and her legs were too heavy to lift because of walking too much.

Xu, 24, is a public servant at Xiantao's Longhuashan subdistrict office. Xu and four other young Party members from the same office signed up to serve at Hanlingongguan Community, where closed-off management was imposed on several buildings.

Over the past week, Xu has experienced a completely different life. "Though I have to do the same thing again and again, such as scanning residents' information for nucleic acid testing, patrolling around the community and helping the quarantined residents to buy necessities, I do feel a sense of accomplishment from others' recognition and the fact that the epidemic situation is under control," she said.