Helping hands make life easier in Wuhan

Community workers playing vital role

Editor's Note: Novel coronavirus pneumonia is posing a worldwide threat. Here, we take a look at how China is playing its role in the global fight against the outbreak, by mobilizing a vast amount of resources to contain the epidemic. This is the first part of a series titled "United Actions".

Peng Jing, 33, a community worker with more than a decade of experience, faced her toughest challenge to date when novel coronavirus pneumonia hit Wuhan, Hubei province.

She has had less than five hours sleep a night for over 40 days as she has been busy organizing efforts to prevent and control the epidemic in the Shui'an Xingcheng Community in the city's Wuchang district, where she heads the neighborhood committee.

The community has 4,383 households and more than 11,000 people live there.

Peng is one of the community workers tackling disease control efforts in the 7,148 residential communities in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

She and colleagues on the neighborhood committee find dealing with the routine work of community affairs is never easy at the best of times, but when an epidemic emerges, they feel it becomes even more difficult.

"We have 11 community workers, which means that every one of us is responsible for around 400 households," Peng said.

"We have to know the basic details of every household, such as how many people there are and whether their temperature is normal. We ask them to report their health status every day by making calls or using a WeChat group. We also have to ensure that residents are isolated promptly if they become infected or are suspected of having symptoms."