China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Residents’ lives made easier during pandemic
New QR codes, green channels and insurance cover introduced
Nearly 16,000 residents in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province, have received cards printed with their personalized QR codes, with which they can easily complete nucleic acid tests or enter a public venue without a smartphone.
To help ease difficulty in scanning codes with smartphones for some locals, especially the elderly, the public security and district authorities have worked to promote the user-friendly initiative of “reverse scanning” in the city’s Meilisi Daur district.
This is one of the many creative measures taken by government bodies at the grassroots level nationwide to make life more convenient during outbreaks of COVID-19.
Gao Changyong, a 73-year-old retired teacher in Meilisi Daur, has felt more comfortable going out in recent days.
“It has become much easier for me to take nucleic acid tests or enter a public venue without a phone since I received a card bearing my personalized QR code on April 2,” he said.
“For the past two years, I have felt embarrassed while visiting a public venue, because I didn’t know how to use a smartphone. I had to wait for staff members to write down my information, which takes a long time.”
Gao said he had to ask his children to send him daily supplies in order to avoid going out, as sometimes seniors had to line up outside even in extremely cold weather.
“Last year, I got my first smartphone, but I found it hard to master the functions such as code scanning. When a community worker told me about the new reverse scanning method, I was really happy and immediately applied to use it.
“A few days later, the card arrived, which has made my life more convenient and efficient. Now all I need do is show my card when asked to do so.”
Zhuang Tiyong, a local official in Meilisi Daur, who is in charge of the project, said: “With a green code, visitors can enter venues. Their visits will also be recorded.
“With a large rural population, the problems the elderly have with using smartphones are more apparent. The inspiration for the new cards came from mobile payments, where a seller scans a code in the buyer’s phone.”
There are 49 villages and seven communities Meilisi Daur, a suburban area about 20 kilometers from downtown Qiqihar.
Zhao Guochen, head of Qianping village in the district, said: “We have some 1,200 residents in the village and more than 200 of them are more than 60 years old. Most of them have now received their cards.
“Previously, they sometimes experienced problems such as forgetting to carry their ID cards when they took nucleic acid tests, or they lost such cards. The new cards help them avoid such difficulties.”
In late January, the district government began researching and promoting reverse scanning with technical support from a China Mobile branch.
With epidemic prevention data provided by local public security departments, the QR code cards are designed for use by students and also the elderly and others who find it difficult to use a smartphone.
“To provide a better user experience, we launched a trial operation in one community in early March, during which we upgraded and solved several imperfections and problems experienced by users,” Zhuang said.
According to the national census last year, there are some 264 million people age 60 or older in China, accounting for 18.7 percent of the population.
Zhuang said: “We also printed the telephone numbers of seniors’ closest relatives, which can be useful in emergencies. We plan to popularize the cards among all residents who are 60 or older and for students from kindergarten to senior high school.”
The 16,000 cards sent to residents cover 7,200 people who are 60 or older, 7,900 students from primary to senior high school, and 825 children in kindergarten.
After receiving her personalized QR code on April 8, Lan Xige, an 8-year-old primary school pupil, visited a stationery store in her residential community for the first time on her own.
“The store owner easily scanned my code with her phone and allowed me to enter when she saw the green code,” the girl said. “It was the first time I had been shopping without my parents.”
Her mother, Zhou Yuanyuan, 29, a community worker, said: “I am really busy with my work. Sometimes I become a little anxious when dealing with issues related to my daughter’s QR code.
“Every time she took a nucleic acid test, I had to accompany her and show her QR code on my phone. If the test was carried out at her school, I had to send a screenshot of her QR code to her teacher.”
It also took teachers a lot of time to make labels of each screenshot to distinguish the students, she added.
“Now, all these procedures have been simplified. Furthermore, I can give my daughter more opportunities to do things on her own.”
Gao, the retired teacher, said: “I think the new QR cards have great social significance, demonstrating the caring attitude shown by the local government to special groups during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope these new methods can be extended nationwide to benefit more people, especially the elderly.”
According to media reports, other cities are promoting similar policies to offer greater convenience to residents.
On April 11, a statement released by the COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, said people who didn’t have a smartphone could apply for the QR code cards in their communities.
Residents should bring their ID card or household registration document, along with a full-faced color photo, and community workers would collate their information and issue the card with the approval of the headquarters, the statement added.
Reverse scanning coverage is now in place on all subway lines in Wuxi city, Jiangsu.
Residents enter stations after staff members scan their QR codes printed on paper.
Hospitals act
In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, major hospitals have opened “green channels” for pregnant women and patients with diseases other than COVID-19.
On April 12, Cao Xiaoting, 32, gave birth to a daughter by cesarean section in Guangzhou Baiyun District Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
Cao said she was sent to the hospital in a special ambulance after she dialed the local hotline for help on April 11. Arrangements were made for her to have the cesarean section the next day.
Ahead of giving birth, Cao had taken three nucleic acid tests.
“The cesarean section went well and I was satisfied with the arrangements made by the hospital and local government,” Cao said.
Wang Xiaoyi, a gynecologist from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in the city’s Liwan district, said the hospital has helped more than a dozen women deliver babies in the latest COVID-19 outbreak.
“Pregnant women living in the city’s lockdown areas and controlled zones have no need to be unduly worried. Government departments have taken measures to help them, and major hospitals have opened green channels for them and others in need,” she said.
Yang Yanze, deputy head of Baiyun district, said that as of April 13, a total of 54 women from the controlled zones in the area had given birth without any problems during the latest outbreak.
Special task forces consisting of more than 130 medical workers, neighborhood staff members and volunteers have been formed to provide specialized help for pregnant women and others in need in the district’s lockdown areas and controlled zones, which are home to more than 556,000 residents.
Meanwhile, 100 special ambulances are on standby in the lockdown areas and controlled zones to help take pregnant women and critically ill patients to hospitals when needed, Yang said at a news conference last week.
The lockdown areas and controlled zones in Baiyun house a total of more than 15,200 pregnant women, patients with chronic diseases, and senior residents living alone, Yang added.
In addition to green channels at major hospitals and online medical services, community clinics, neighborhood committees and volunteers provide door-to-door medicine delivery services to these special groups of residents in such areas, he said.
Meanwhile, two specialized psychological counseling hotlines have opened in Baiyun to help ease fears among residents affected by the pandemic, Yang added.
Wu Linbo, deputy secretary-general of the Guangzhou city government, said at a news conference last week that 889 people who are 80 or older, 374 patients with severe mental illness, 234 residents with chronic diseases, 1,584 pregnant women and 1,692 disabled people are living in the city’s controlled zones.
“Government departments are required to ensure that medical services for these special groups remain intact,” Wu said.
Coverage launched
In Ninghai county, Ningbo, Zhejiang province, an insurance program has been launched for businesses that provide and deliver boxed meals to people in quarantine.
All four quarantine meal delivery companies in Ninghai county, Ningbo, have been insured and this cover will be further promoted throughout the city.
A company pays 198 yuan ($31) as a deposit for insurance. If any of its workers test positive for COVID-19 and the business is forced to close, daily compensation of 3,000 yuan will be paid during the time it is shut down, with a maximum payment of 90,000 yuan.
Yang Xiaomeng, who owns Ningbo Haiyuwan Catering Management, one of the quarantine meal delivery companies in the district, said, “This reassures us that the insurance helps reduce risks when we join efforts to fight COVID-19.”
A similar type of insurance was launched on March 29 by the Zhejiang Small and Medium Catering Industry Association, the Zhejiang branch of China Continent Insurance, and Dayu Technology Co.
It is the first insurance cover in the province aimed at micro, small and medium-sized catering companies.
Property insurance for companies covers compensation for losses caused by COVID-19 and interruption of business.
Compensation is divided into three levels based on the size of the companies.
If businesses close due to epidemic prevention and control measures, the daily compensation limit for micro to medium-sized companies ranges from 800 yuan to 1,600 yuan, with a maximum payout of 33,600 yuan.
The resurgence of COVID-19 in Zhejiang has dealt a heavy blow to leisure venues such as cinemas.
The cities of Jinhua, Jiaxing and Wenzhou are offering subsidies of more than 10 million yuan for cinemas to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their business. For six months, cinemas in these cities will receive 25 yuan per month for each seat.
Chen Yijiang, who manages a cinema in Jinhua, told Jinhua Daily that revenue fell by 60 percent in the first quarter of this year.
According to the preferential policy, the cinema, which has 603 seats, will receive a subsidy of more than 90,000 yuan.
“This is a great help to us,” Chen added.
“With a large rural population, the problems the elderly have with using smartphones are more apparent. The inspiration for the new cards came from mobile payments, where a seller scans a code in the buyer’s phone.”
Zhuang Tiyong, a local official in Meilisi Daur, who is in charge of the project to provide residents with cards printed with their own personalized QR code