CORONAVIRUS | An entire family in Changsha, the capital city of central China's Hunan Province, gave up a chance for family reunion in the annual Spring Festival holiday season and stuck to their respective posts in their battle against the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pneumonia outbreak in the country since December.

Thirty-three-year-old Deng Gelai is a staff member of the Market Regulation Bureau of Wangcheng District in Changsha City. 

Over the past few days, he and his colleagues have been inspecting the local marketplaces to check the supply of medicine and sanitizers for prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic that broke out in the neighbouring province of Hubei shortly before the Spring Festival.

Deng is so busy that since the reunion dinner on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year on January 24, he has not met with any of his family members, though they are not far away from one another.

"We are required to inspect market supplies twice a day, in the morning and afternoon respectively. So, basically it takes us a whole day to do this job. I have already brought my quilts and articles for daily use to live in my office, which is also a kind of self-quarantine," said Deng.

Thirty-year-old Yang Dan, Deng's wife, is the secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) branch in her residential community. 

There are more than 1,800 households in the community. She is required to make arrangements for epidemic prevention and control in the community and provide psychological counselling for residents. 

Yang also needs to take the body temperature of seven designated households together with a medical staff, and sometimes help residents in need to buy vegetables.

"As long as we are in our post, we must fulfil our duties and do our jobs well," said Yang.

Fifty-eight years old Deng Saixiong, Deng Gelai's father, is a financial affairs official with a sub-district government office in the city. 

He has volunteered to make some contribution at such a critical period of time to fight the pneumonia epidemic which has claimed more than 400 lives in China so far. 

After the novel pneumonia broke out, he and some other Party members in the community have voluntarily taken up the duty of guarding high-speed intersections.

"I hope that my son and daughter-in-law can do their job well and protect themselves well," said Deng. - Reuters