Foreigners help with pandemic control work in SND

Foreigners in Suzhou New District are helping the district with its epidemic prevention and control work, local media outlets reported on Feb 21.

Kim Pyeong-young, a South Korean general-manager of Mando Chassis and Components Co in SND, applied to volunteer after hearing that the district was to carry out nucleic acid testing for all residents on Feb 17.

Kim spent his evenings volunteering at a residential community in Fengqiao sub-district, checking health QR codes, taking temperatures, maintaining order, and offering at-home nucleic acid testing services to several households.

Kim said he wanted to repay SND for helping his South Korean employees get back to work and his company resume operations when the COVID-19 epidemic first broke out in the district in early 2020.

Nobumitsu Fujiwara, president of Suzhou NDK Co, the first Japanese company to set up operations in SND in January 1994, donated medical supplies to a nucleic acid testing site and participated in volunteer work.

Though not fluent in Mandarin, Fujiwara was responsible for checking health QR codes, taking temperatures, and maintaining order.

"We have been doing business in SND for 28 years and received a lot of benefits from the local government. In this special time, we just want to do our part and please don't take it to heart," Fujiwara said.

Foreign teachers from the Suzhou Science and Technology Town Foreign Language School also said they were ready to volunteer on the frontlines.