Facing a spike in COVID-19 cases, Christians in two districts of Shanghai contributed their own time and money to the fight against the virus under the lockdown.
With eight religious activity sites in lockdown since March 7, Minhang District CC&TSPM encouraged church staff to visit front-line anti-epidemic workers, the district CC&TSPM reported.
On March 23, Xinzhuang Jesus Church donated around 10,000 yuan worth of anti-epidemic materials to community workers; Minhang Gospel Church donated 10,000 yuan to Jiangchuan Street; Beiqiao Jesus Church donated 5,000 yuan to Zhuanqiao Town Charity Foundation; Pujin Jiayin Church donated instant noodles and masks to Pujin Street and 10,000 yuan to Pujiang Town.
From March 10, conducting online Sunday services, churches in the New Pudong Area implemented the measure of "double suspension", which refers to suspending the opening of places of worship and group religious activities, New Pudong Area CC&TSPM said.
With anti-epidemic materials in short supply, the New Pudong Area CC&TSPM purchased a batch of urgently needed materials for the neighborhood committees, such as reclining chairs, blankets, milk, instant noodles, and effervescent tablets.
The pastoral staff in the new area signed up to participate in epidemic prevention efforts.
Rev. Yu Ku, deputy secretary-general of Pudong New Area CC&TSPM and board director of Salvation Church, assisted with COVID-19 testing registration by scanning health codes. Xi Wenhu from Hong’en Church, joined the team of transporting anti-epidemic materials, responsible for daily disinfection work, buying vegetables and receiving courier deliveries for residents.
As a community doctor, Du Chunying, a believer from Tianen Church, helped the people in her community which was in lockdown for 14 days. Qin Wenming from Hong’en Church participated in the special volunteer service of visiting and accompanying depressed patients with suicidal tendencies.
Mainland China reported 1839 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 30, including three imported cases in Shanghai and 355 locally transmitted cases in Shanghai (252 in Pudong New Area and 17 in Minhang District). Shanghai also detected 5298 asymptomatic carriers on Wednesday (1949 in Pudong New Area and 761 in Minhang Distric), among 6720 cases in the whole country, according to National Health Commission of the PRC.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
