Couple puts duty before reunion dinners

Family delays Spring Festival to help fight the virus. Yuan Zheng reports for China Daily from Wuhan.

Spring Festival is China's biggest holiday for family reunions, but Yan Zhanfei and his wife, Tie Xiao, have not had a chance to meet their loved ones since then.

Instead, they have both been working on the front line of the fight against the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province.

Yan, a police officer, and Tie, a nurse, were both born in the 1990s. They have left their 2-year-old son with his grandparents at home, and have been living in temporary lodgings since the outbreak began last month.

Since the lockdown in Wuhan started on Jan 23, Yan has been working outdoors to keep traffic running smoothly. Only vehicles whose drivers have been issued with official permits are allowed to use the roads.