COVID-19 Diaries: The Situation In Zhongshan, 81 Days In

Mag is a Chinese citizen, living in Zhongshan in the Guangdong province of China, 1088km from Wuhan. We had a chat with her to find out about the coronavirus situation in Zhongshan and was surprised to find her more busy with work than usual.

Q: Hi Mag, where do you live? How long have you been staying home since the novel coronavirus outbreak started?

A: I live in Zhongshan, a city in Guangdong. I can’t remember when we began staying home. It was probably during the Chinese Lunar New Year (25 Jan). We had bought a lot of food for the new year so we just stayed home. However, I went to the supermarket once on 15 Feb because we were running out of food.

How many cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in your city? What measures have been taken in your city to avoid further outbreaks?

There are 62 confirmed cases here. Since 5 Feb, the city implemented a series of measures to restrict the mobility of people. For example, a lot of facilities such as cinemas/karaoke joints/online game centers were forced to close. People are not allow to go out if they do not wear a mask. Besides, only one family member can represent the family to go out to source for food and supplies, once every 2 days. Every time you go out of a certain area, you need to show a pass to the guard and the record would be logged.

Who are these guards? Who gets selected to be guards?

For villages, normally it would be the committee members in the village who would be assigned the job to control people going in and out of the area. For small communities in the city, the job would be carried out by volunteers. The main roads or highways are guarded by the police.

Can you briefly describe how it was like the last time you went to a supermarket?

It was quite crowded at the supermarket. Everyone wore a mask. The most popular thing was rice. Everyone bought at least two bags of rice and one full cart of other stuff.

What do you do at home these days?

Since I work for an insurance company, I can work at home with the computer. Business has even gotten better now because people are more aware of health issues. I am even more busy than usual, working from Monday to Sunday non-stop.

When will you physically return to work?

There is no announcement from my company yet. Hopefully we can make it in March.

Tomorrow, we’ll chat with an expat in another part of China’s Guangdong province to find out how similar his situation might be over there. Follow the latest in our COVID-19 Diaries series here.

If you’re in China right now or have been affected by the novel coronavirus and would like to share information about the situation where you’re at, do get in touch with us here.

Photographs courtesy and copyright of Mag. Interviewer: Kauai
Sponsor or support the COVID-19 Diaries series here.
If you found this article useful: