China Stresses Care for Frontline Community Workers in COVID-19 Battle

Community workers and volunteers use a speaker to publicize the information about prevention and control of the novel coronavirus at a street near the Yellow Crane Pavilion in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 7, 2020. [Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu]
 

Community workers fighting on the frontline of the epidemic may receive subsidies for the vital services they have provided.

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) — A leading group of China's COVID-19 response has issued a circular to strengthen care for frontline community workers in the anti-coronavirus battle.

An appropriate amount of subsidies will be given to frontline community workers while ensuring their current pay levels, read the circular.

Community workers who fall ill or encounter accidents that result in injuries amid the epidemic prevention and control period, and in the meantime fits the work-related injury insurance regulations, should be recognized as "occupational injuries," the circular said.

It calls for enhancing the protection for community workers by providing them necessary prevention equipment and facilities.

Modern information technology are encouraged to improve the efficiency of prevention and control works in the community, and therefore alleviating burdens on community workers, it said.

The document also underlines the physical and psychological health of community workers by requiring giving enough time for them to rest and offering them body checks and psychological counseling after the epidemic period. 
 

(Source: Xinhua)