Wuhan starts three-day screening campaign

Authorities in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in Hubei province, launched a three-day campaign on Monday to screen people in order to leave no one unattended and curb the spread of the contagion.

The screening work came after the city issued a public notice on Friday that required all residential communities to be locked down and reduce people's movement to limit transmission of the disease.

All residential communities throughout the city are required to be checked door-to-door to identify infected people, suspected cases and those who have close contact with the infected people, Wang Zhonglin, Party secretary of Wuhan, said at a video conference on Sunday.

Wang urged officials to be highly responsible for people's health, and "leave no household, no one behind "during the screening process.

Fever patients, people who have had close contact with confirmed cases and suspected cases of infections must receive nucleic acid tests in a timely manner while those with confirmed cases must be hospitalized, he added.

On Monday, while chairing a meeting on epidemic prevention and control, Wang called for efforts to provide more beds to hospitals to admit more patients. He told officials attending the meeting that every effort must be made to improve the admission and recovery rates and reduce the infection and mortality rates.

While stressing that violations of the regulations on the community lockdown will be punished, Wang also underlined the need to improve the commodity delivery systems to guarantee the supply of daily necessities to residents.

Acting on government instructions, residential communities have strengthened control of their entrances. Tian Ming, head of a neighborhood committee in Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone, organized 30 community workers to do screening from early Monday morning.

"We have 1,315 households in the community. We will visit them door-to-door, learning how many people there are in the homes, noting their telephone numbers, checking their temperatures and taking note of whether they have health problems,"Tian told China Daily.

The community workers operate in shifts to provide round-the-clock services to the residents to ensure they can be reached at any time for assistance in health problems or supplies of daily necessities, he said.

Wang Qiong, Party secretary of the Zhongda community in the city's Hanjiang district, said the community has a massive floating population due to its proximity to markets.

As many people returned to their homes before Lunar New Year, 1,159 people in 644 households in the community have been reached to identify their health condition by making calls, contacting them on WeChat or sending messages by mobile phone, Wang said, adding that seniors or people with disabilities would be reached by home visits.

Wu Hanyun, a 62-year-old man living in the community with his wife, said that he understands the lockdown of communities in the city."The fact that we are not going outdoors is our contribution to the nation's efforts to combat the novel coronavirus pneumonia," he told China Daily by phone.

Wu said the community workers help his family a lot with daily necessities. "I believe we can triumph over the difficulties through united efforts. Stay strong, Wuhan!" he added.