Student volunteers rush to support testing effort in Guangzhou

Lately, Chan Tung has been busy helping locals take coronavirus tests on a street in Guangzhou's Tianhe district.

"Residents from Guangdong and the Hong Kong special administrative region have been caring for each other and helping each other after the coronavirus outbreak in recent weeks, and I also want to do something for society," said Chan, who is from Hong Kong.

Chan, a graduate student in emergency management at Ji'nan University in Guangzhou, quickly signed up for volunteer service when the pandemic broke out in the southern metropolis.

Now Chan wears a yellow volunteer vest every day and guides her classmates and local residents to line up in an orderly manner for tests in a gymnasium at the university.

When someone has problems scanning codes or filling in information, she immediately comes forward to help with patient answers to their questions.

Chan is not alone.

"A large number of students from the university have signed up to be volunteers — more than 200 recruited in less than an hour to work as volunteers," she said, adding that it's an honor to help the city fight the pandemic.

He Xiaowei, director of Timetable Cafe, said staff members at her three cafes in Tianhe and Liwan districts have been working overtime to produce special cafe fare, including dim-sum, and pack it for delivery to major communities and testing centers in the two districts to support local medical teams.

With every cup of coffee come the words "Thanks for your hard work" and "Come on Guangzhou", which convey the hopes and expectations of the Timetable team, she said.

In addition to sending a message of warmth and care, Timetable has also donated disinfectants, hand sanitizers and other anti-pandemic products in recent weeks, He said.

"We hope to be able to contribute to the fight against the coronavirus," she added.

Jack Lam, an entrepreneur from Hong Kong, said that many young people from Hong Kong and Macao are volunteering to do whatever they can to help the city prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

"We all live in Guangzhou and hope people from Hong Kong and Guangdong province can unite to overcome the pandemic," Lam said.

Lam said his colleagues at the Guangzhou Tianhe Hong Kong and Macao Youth Association headquarters have now visited local front-line medical staff at the sample collection centers in Tianhe district, bringing herbal tea, coffee, hand sanitizers and related anti-pandemic materials to cheer them on in this round of the coronavirus outbreak.

Guangdong and Hong Kong are communities with a common destiny, and we should support each other, Lam said.