Shanghai is obviously China’s COVID focus at present, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening in Nanjing, much of it related to our big sister to the East. And today’s roundup comprises a baby from Shandong, life-saving medicine and nurses. Lots of them.
As ever, first the numbers. Nanjing reported a further three COVID-positive individuals in the 24 hours to 00:00 today, 11 April.
Among them, two were returning to Nanjing from their work participating in the build of another hospital for COVID patients in record time, this one at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC). Until its new purpose, the venue had been used annually for the infamous China International Import Expo.
The remaining case is a resident of Xigang Subdistrict in Nanjing’s Qixia District, reports PSA Nanjing (南京发布).
Onto other news. A Ms Bian, who lives in Anting Town of Jiading District in Shanghai, suffers from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. And recently, her life-saving medicine started to run precariously low. It was due to run out today, 11 April.
With a fresh stock on order, her son checked up on the package’s location. Stuck in Nanjing. Feeling he had no other option, he sent out an appeal for help on his WeChat Moments on 9 April, seeking a human relay to get his mother the expensive meds in time.
He had done the right thing. A friend in Nanjing was successful in picking up the courier package. They got as far as Wuxi City, where they were stopped by anti-COVID restrictions. There though, the local police took over and got the meds to Suzhou, where another of Chen’s friends took over. He made it to the Shanghai border, whereupon Jiading traffic police completed the final leg to deliver the medicine just in time. All in, the package had traveled over 700 kilometres from its point of origin in Shandong Province to the north of Jiangsu.
Still with Shandong, it was from there that a fraught couple attempted a 6 hour drive to Nanjing seeking emergency medical treatment for their baby. Stopped at the Nanjing border, upon understanding the gravity of the situation, Nanjing’s traffic police opened up a special channel for the couple’s vehicle and escorted them and their baby all the way to the specialist hospital.
Medical facilities in Shandong had been unable to treat the baby, who suffers from Pierre Robin syndrome, a rare congenital birth defect featuring an underdeveloped jaw and displacement of the tongue that leads to to airway obstruction.
Finally to our lead story. Nurses from Nanjing are among those who have been brought in to assist Shanghai with its monumental NAT effort.
Yu Menghan, a nurse at Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital, was one of 150 from that institution who volunteered for the job. Speaking with The Paper, she said, “This is the first time I signed up for this kind of thing. I’m young and so I hope we can do our little bit”.
Yu and her colleagues received training as to the correct way to conduct NATs, before departing Nanjing by bus at 02:00 on 3 April. After helping to conduct tests on 2,700 people in a Shanghai residential community with two of her colleagues, they were permitted to come home. And then to be summoned again to Shanghai on 7 April.
With social media in recent days making negative of some Shanghainese’s behaviour during the massive outbreak, Yu was glowing in her words from direct experience.
“Residents and grass-roots staff are very cooperative”, she said. “Shanghai residents are also very polite. With their cooperation, we can successfully complete the sampling task.
“Everyone may be worried and nervous. I believe that with the help of the people from all over the country and with the active cooperation of the people of Shanghai, we can quickly overcome the epidemic.”
