In this undated photo, a resident picks up a bag of fruit in Zuoling, Wuhan, Hubei province, in March 2020. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)
Yin Shaoqing, who lives in Zuoling, a town in east Wuhan, Hubei province, spends most of her time taking care of her newborn grandson.
The healthy baby boy, born after the novel coronavirus epidemic broke out in the city, is the first member of the family's third generation. His arrival dispelled the shadow of the epidemic and brought hope to the whole family.
"I'm not afraid at all. In fact, there's nothing to be scared of now in Zuoling. We may have been a little nervous in the beginning, but now everything is completely under control," Yin said.
Zuoling is in Wuhan's Hongshan district, on the border with the neighboring city of Ezhou. It was farmland 10 years ago, with about 60,000 villagers, but has developed into an important high-tech industrial base in recent years.
More than 100,000 companies have been established in the town in recent years, with another 40,000 people moving in to work there.
Far from the city center, the newly built community upgraded its health service center last year to provide healthcare for its rapidly growing population.
As I walked downstairs with a patient on my back, I could feel his breathing and heartbeat. Although wearing protective clothing, I was really terrified at that time. But since I chose to be a doctor, my duty is to heal the wounded and preserve life.
Zhang Jian, Director of Zuoling health service center, Wuhan
The center has been designed to serve 100,000 residents. It has more than 100 medical staff working in stomatology, gynecology and rehabilitation departments, its director, Zhang Jian, said.
The upgrade proved to be timely, with the center playing an important role in the treatment of people infected with the novel coronavirus.
"It's much better now. The most difficult time was the beginning of February," Zhang said. "Our medical facilities are equipped according to normal conditions, and no one could have expected a sudden outbreak of the virus."
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Difficult beginning
Like the rest of Wuhan, Zuoling faced serious challenges at the very beginning as nobody knew about the highly infectious virus and few had dealt with such a public health emergency.
The residents of Zuoling did not realize the risk initially, and many were reluctant to wear masks. With the approach of Spring Festival, a traditional holiday which fell on Jan 25 this year, many families organized parties to celebrate.
Chen Xianyun, Yin's neighbor, said she felt unwell at the beginning of January but did not realize she had been infected with the novel coronavirus. She didn't even know when, where or how she was infected.
The Party chief of Zuoling Subdistrict, Wu Weiguan, said: "This is the area I am responsible for. We must find a way to treat as many patients as we can."
Wu, 51, said the local government launched an emergency management mechanism as early as Jan 19 and established a command system to coordinate the response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
His experience working in a hospital during the hepatitis A epidemic in 1992 gave Wu the courage to combat the new virus, and he quickly arranged for the subdistrict's staff members to cancel their holidays and work overtime with him. They raised 200,000 yuan (US$28,600) to buy masks, disinfectant and other health protection supplies. Those efforts later proved valuable for epidemic control.
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Led by Wu, 260 local government staff members, 190 volunteers and 600 staff members of property management companies in the area formed teams to direct the disease prevention effort and ensure the supply of daily necessities.
"It was really difficult at that time," Wu said. "The entire system was not mobilized due to the Spring Festival holiday. We had to work with the health center to find ways to treat patients."
On Jan 30, the Zuoling health service center became a quarantine spot for people suspected of being infected.
Zhang, the center's director, helped bring in more than 500 patients and didn't go home for more than 40 days.
"As I walked downstairs with a patient on my back, I could feel his breathing and heartbeat," he said. "Although wearing protective clothing, I was really terrified at that time. But since I chose to be a doctor, my duty is to heal the wounded and preserve life."
Getting better
With the whole country sparing no effort to fight the epidemic alongside Wuhan, the turning point came in mid-February.
Wu said medical services have been able to fully meet demand since Feb 17, as "all kinds of aid poured in from all over the country".
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After Wang Zhonglin, Wuhan's new Party chief, took up his post on Feb 13, patients were sent to different hospitals for treatment according to the severity of their conditions.
Zhang said the Zuoling health service started only treating patients not infected with novel coronavirus on Feb 18, when its last infected patient was transferred to a downtown hospital.
"The pressure was slightly relieved, but we still had lots of work to do, including epidemiological investigations, services at quarantine sites and checking for suspected infections," he said. "I hope Wuhan can return to normal as quickly as possible."
By March 4, there had been 200 confirmed cases in Zuoling, with 91 of them having recovered.
Chen was one of them. Now back home, she plays badminton for half an hour a day with her husband, if the weather permits.
The past month has also seen 30 healthy babies born in Zuoling. None of them has been infected with the virus.
Yin plans to move into a bigger house after the epidemic is defeated as the family has a new member.
The given name of her grandson is Jinyi. In Chinese, Jin means "beautiful jade" and Yi means "ever shining".
"He is like a beautiful jade that shines in the dark, giving us light and hope," his grandmother said.
Yu Hang and Li Jia contributed to this story.
Contact the writers at wuyong@chinadaily.com.cn
