Guidelines focus on community workers

Governments at different levels across China have issued new guidelines to ensure front-line community work in the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak.

In Tianjin, the government issued a notice on Wednesday that it will provide special subsidies, promotions and awards to community workers. The city also said the government will attach great importance to the promotion mechanism as well as the physical and psychological health of community workers by giving them enough time to rest and offering them health checks and psychological counseling after the epidemic period.

In Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak, local authorities announced on Thursday that each community post should have two workers on rotation to avoid overworking them. Those community workers who are infected with the virus will be given compensation of between 3,000 yuan ($432) and 5,000 yuan per person, depending on the severity of their conditions, in addition to the basic standard work compensation.

These measures comply with a circular released by a leading group in China's novel coronavirus pneumonia response to strengthen care for front-line community workers in the coronavirus battle on Wednesday.

The circular noted that an appropriate amount of subsidies will be given to front-line community workers while ensuring their current pay levels. Community workers who fall ill or encounter accidents that result in injuries amid the epidemic prevention and control period, and who meet work-related injury insurance regulations, should be recognized as victims of "occupational injuries," the circular said.

Since the epidemic outbreak, community workers have been overworked and under great pressure.

By Feb 20, 33 community workers throughout the country had died while working during the outbreak, according to Chen Yueliang, director of community governance department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Song Zhiyong, a community worker at Laosongzhuang village, Jizhou district of Tianjin－which is just 50 meters from Baodi district, where more than half the city's confirmed virus cases are located－said he has teamed up with the village leader to conduct repeated door-to-door surveys of 639 families to check on their health conditions.

"Working a whole day until 3 or 4 am is quite normal," Song said.

In Harbin, Heilongjiang province, community workers not only help with disease prevention, they also contributed to finding a fugitive who had been hidden for six years.

A man who refused to show his ID card when opening the door during a health survey was found to be a suspect accused of falsely issuing tax invoices worth 1.5 billion yuan in 2013.

On Feb 20, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Health announced that local authorities should subsidize local community workers during the campaign to fight the virus.

Different levels of government announced measures to echo the ministries' call. Henan province, for example, recently announced plans to subsidize local community workers 150 yuan per day.

Xinhua contributed to this story.