Youth take on challenge of fighting off outbreak

Chen Mengye decided without hesitation to go to Shanghai to help fight the resurgence of COVID-19, as braving challenges, in her view, is what young people should do.

"My mom worried about me when she knew I would join the front line, but I convinced her and came here," the 22-year-old medic from Wuhan, Hubei province, said on Wednesday, which was also China's Youth Day.

After taking care of asymptomatic carriers at a makeshift hospital in Shanghai for a month, she said that she had grown up a lot and did not regret making the decision.

"I think working continuously for 30 days and barely having a rest is a kind of bravery. Despite the exhaustion, I made it," said Chen, the youngest of the medical team supporting Shanghai's current epidemic fight from Zhongnan Hospital Affiliated to Wuhan University.

Tan Miao, 30, a medic also from Hubei, said that young people should have their own ideas, but being down to earth and efficiently accomplishing every task is more important.

She told China Daily that she called home every day to watch her 2-year-old son when she first came to Shanghai. "But a few days later, I decided to reduce the video calls, because I found that it increased my homesickness and made it hard to focus on work.

"I realized that a quick way to be reunited with my family is to accomplish what I should do first," she added. "Only by using such practical actions to make our ideas come true can we truly get through the difficult time, such as the current outbreak in Shanghai."

Xu Xirui, 25, used the word "vitality" to describe youth, but he also admitted that the anti-epidemic workload in makeshift hospitals sometimes made him feel real pressure.

"When I was down, I talked to my college roommate, who is also on the front line," he said. "It's the friendship that cheered me up and helped me get the vitality back.

"Staying energetic is not only a must to win the epidemic battle, but also for young generations to overcome other difficulties," he added.

While expressing his thanks to the youngsters braving the epidemic, Wu Bin, deputy head of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, highlighted the importance of guaranteeing the health and safety of those young volunteers amid the outbreak.

At a news conference on Wednesday, he said that the committee offered training for the youth to intensify self-protection at the beginning of the epidemic, and provided them with sufficient living supplies, such as face masks, protective clothes and daily necessities.

In the anti-epidemic battle, a total of 872 members from the Shanghai branch of the All-China Youth Federation had completed 8,573 deliveries of medicines by Tuesday, and some 19,000 college students have voluntarily provided online aid for children whose parents are working at the epidemic front line, according to Wu.