Residents celebrate after lockdown lifted

MANY residents waved national flags, sang songs and set off fireworks to celebrate their freedom as the lockdown at Caopuxi Community, Qingshuihe Subdistrict in Luohu District was lifted at 12:01 a.m. yesterday, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

Meanwhile, Hewei Village’s buildings No. 58 and 64 in Qingshuihe also got downgraded to low-risk areas for COVID-19 from 12:01 a.m. yesterday. As a result, all areas in the city are declared low risk.

Caopuxi’s prevention and control measures have covered most of the residential buildings and the highest number of people during the latest wave of COVID-19 in Shenzhen.

Late Tuesday night, despite the chilly temperatures, many residents were waiting at the northwest gate of Caopuxi’s Zhangshe Village for the end of their quarantine.

The residents, wearing masks, sang the chorus to “Ode to the Motherland” to express their gratitude to all the frontline workers fighting against the pandemic during the lockdown period.

Li Zhenqing, an owner of a snack bar, distributed over 100 miniature Chinese flags he purchased to residents.

“I am residing in Caopudong (an area east of Caopuxi) and my best friend is in Caopuxi. Due to the lockdown, we haven’t seen each other for many days. I will treat him to a cup of tea as soon as he is ‘released,’” Li said.

“The asterisk sign on our green travel history code has been removed. Amazing Shenzhen Speed,” a young man called Wei Zikang, told the Daily.

Another citizen, surnamed Zhang, brought his wife who was quarantined at home during the lockdown, a bouquet of flowers. “My wife told me via video calls that the community workers provided them sufficient living supplies and timely medical supplies as well,” he said.

“To ensure everyone receives the things they need, I delivered supplies every 10 minutes thereabouts from 8 a.m. to midnight day after day,” said Mao Guoming, a 50-year-old employee from Qingshuihe Co. Ltd., who was responsible for delivering materials to residents in the controlled areas.

Mao added, “I didn’t even count how many times I had gone back and forth between a material supply site and the residents’ designated pickup site. They always thanked me for my hard work, which warmed my heart.”

Gong Xue, head of Qingshuihe Subdistrict Office, gave all the credit to nearly 3,000 grassroots workers, including subdistrict office staffers, medical personnel, teachers and police officers, as well as over 20,000 residents, who supported and cooperated in the area’s pandemic control and prevention work.

Huang Shengwen, Luohu’s deputy Party chief, said that the local government will continue to have preventive measures in place to provide a safe living and working environment for the people. (Shenzhen Daily)