Battle on the front line: What's a toilet break?
A Shanghai Customs official sticks a green label on a passport, meaning the traveler is from a country relatively unaffected by the coronavirus. Those with red and yellow stickers have to go through further procedures.
Wu Liang, head of the travelers' service center at Pudong airport, spends over 10 hours a day in a hazmat suit these days, meaning he cannot eat, drink or even go to the toilet.
Once the suit is removed, it cannot be worn again to ensure the protection effects.
Due to a shortage of all kinds of protective equipment, Wu and other airport staff would rather to resist their hunger and thirst, while safeguarding the city's main air portal during the coronavirus epidemic.
After hearing that some passengers from Italy were arriving on Aeroflot's Flight SU208, Wu put on a hazmat suit at 9:30am.
His tasks include accompanying travelers from seriously affected regions through entry procedures, including temperature checks, epidemiological investigations, health declarations, luggage pickup and transport to a designated hotel for 14-day quarantine.
It was 8pm before he completed the whole process and returned to his room in a quarantined hotel.
Though not drinking for a whole day, Wu was drenched in sweat after removing the hazmat suit. "But I felt fulfilled when I saw my wet hair in the mirror," Wu said.
With the recent rise of coronavirus cases outside China, Pudong International Airport has organized a volunteer team of 67 members like Wu, from various departments of the Shanghai Airport Authority.
They accompany travelers from or who had traveled to key affected countries including South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan to finish entry procedures without coming into contact with other travelers.
Yang Wen, another volunteer mainly serving transit travelers, said they had to work around the clock.
On March 6, Yang spent two hours escorting a group of 25 transit passengers to pick up luggage, check in and go through security checks to reach a quarantined waiting section.
She soon received another task to send a group of 30 passengers to a designated hotel to wait for their next flight 12 hours later.
After accommodating the travelers, she returned to the airport to receive other arriving passengers.
Airport volunteers help guide travelers at Pudong airport.
Two airport volunteers are on hand to guide passengers arriving at Pudong airport
Working around the clock
Her colleague Wu Yuhua, a member of the security staff who volunteered to join the team, said her hands would stick to the plastic gloves when she finished work and tried to remove them.
"I understand it is the special period and those minor wounds account for nothing during the urgent days," Wu Yuhua said.
Former People's Liberation Army soldier Song Zhanling, now a security staff team leader at Pudong airport, has been at his post since January 31. He makes sure travelers from key regions get to designated hotels for quarantine.
Song said he sleeps just two hours a night. He worked continuously between March 3 and 5 to escort passengers, maintain order and register travelers' information.
At Hongqiao airport, a similar 70-strong team of volunteers ensures a totally enclosed entry and transport process for those from the key regions.
As of Sunday noon, the Pudong airport had transported 4,388 travelers in 456 batches from badly affected regions. Over 40 buses and 20 minibuses were on standby outside the two terminal buildings to transport travelers.
The airport has also opened two channels for travelers from key regions which are isolated from other passengers.
Four baggage carousels have also been assigned to only serve those from hard-hit regions. Mechanics are on standby to maintain and disinfect the carousels.
Six temporary quarantined zones have also been set up at Pudong's two terminals for transit passengers waiting for their onward flights.
An airport workers arranges luggage of travelers from Italy ready for disinfection at Pudong airport.
Officials from the city's 16 districts and neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces register travelers from key affected regions.
An airport worker check travelers' information and helps handle luggage from key affected areas at Pudong airport.
