China's Xi'an beefs up anti-epidemic forces to contain coronavirus

XI'AN -- Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province, has sent tens of thousands of government workers to join the frontline staff working in residential quarters across the city to stamp out coronavirus.

The megacity, with a population of 13 million, imposed closed-off management for communities and villages on Thursday, in an effort to contain the latest COVID-19 resurgence. Residents have also been asked not to leave the city unless absolutely necessary.

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan has urged swift virus containment measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Xi'an during a recent inspection in the city.

On Friday, the province reported 78 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 75 cases in Xi'an. In the resurgence since Dec 9, the province had reported 342 local cases, with 330 cases in Xi'an, according to the provincial health commission.

All the cases in Shaanxi, with four severe cases, 134 moderate cases and 204 mild cases, are undergoing treatment in the Xi'an Chest Hospital, Liu Na, an official with the provincial health commission told a press briefing Saturday. The patients, aged between one year old and 90 years old, are all in stable condition.

To aid the fight against COVID-19, the Xi'an municipal committee of the Communist Party of China has sent more than 33,000 government workers to the frontline to help address staffing shortages. They have joined in the closed-off management of communities, nucleic acid testing and environmental disinfection.

Niu Jingqi, a judge with the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court, was woken up by an urgent phone call at 5 am on Thursday, asking him to get to a residential quarter more than 20 km away before 7 am

After a brief training upon arrival, Niu put on protective clothing and began helping community officials maintain order at a nucleic acid testing site until 10 p.m.

"More than half of the 18,000 residents in this community are over 60 years old and do not know how to use the health code," Niu said. "Therefore we have set up a queue for people to register for the test with ID cards and arranged early testing for the elderly who are physically weak."

"My wife is a police officer and is also on the frontline these days. We are doing ordinary work, but we want to contribute to the fight against the virus." Niu's 192 colleagues from the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court also work on the frontline.

Fan Pengsheng, an official with the densely-populated Beilin District, has joined community officials to check nucleic acid testing and help tackle difficulties for eight residential communities since Dec. 18.

"Many old residential communities do not offer property management services and we need to go door-to-door to tell residents to join the mass nucleic acid testing," Fan said.

"As grassroots Party members and cadres, we should race against the time while the city suddenly came to a standstill," Fan said, adding that they often work till very late at night.

Authorities in Xi'an also made all-out efforts to ensure the national postgraduate entrance examination for about 135,000 examinees in the city starting Saturday go smoothly amid grave epidemic situations.

Authorities dispatched staff workers to send exam papers to examinees who are in quarantine in designated places.

Chang'an University offered masks and hand sanitizers for all examinees and ensured that examinees can take nucleic acid testing every day. Those hit with sudden fever can take the exam in isolated rooms.

The municipal transport department has organized 5,000 taxies and cars on ride-hailing platforms to provide one-on-one rides for examinees.