Groups unite to boster battle against illness

Barber keeps busy

With the roads in Yichang, Hubei, largely deserted, barber Li Nianbang has been driving to a hotel near Third People's Hospital of Yichang to cut the hair of medical workers battling the outbreak.

As he works in a temporary barbershop in the hotel lobby, Li, 53, wears a face mask, rubber gloves and other protective clothing. He also carries alcohol disinfection when he moves around the building.

A friend who is a doctor tried to persuade him not to do such work, saying, "You outsiders may be unable to imagine how severe the situation is."

On Jan 25, Lunar New Year's Day, Li raised 24,000 yuan ($3,444) for five hospitals in the non-profit environmental group he launched in 2015 to collect rubbish along the Yangtze River in Yichang. He is better known in the city as the founder of the NGO than for being a barber.

He bought milk and bread with the donated money, and when he was carrying the supplies into the hospital building, a worker asked if he could do medical professionals a favor by cutting their hair for free. He immediately agreed.

Li said of his work in a WeChat post, "I have never been so proud of being a barber."

To reduce the risk of infection, more than 200 staff members at the hospital have been told not to return home and are shuttling between their workplace and the hotel.

They shower in their rooms before going downstairs to have their hair cut. Li's clients are easygoing, their only request being that he cut their hair short.