Local officials, community workers step forward to help Beijing residents

Shi Miao, a Party official at the Tianzhaojiayuan community, said she received the notice that the community would be designated as a controlled area around 5am on Thursday. Being a controlled areas means that residents are allowed to leave their apartments but have to stay within the neighborhood.

"Following the lockdown, residents were the most concerned about two questions: where to get food and how to get to hospital when in need," she said.

Shi said they immediately reached out to local supermarkets and asked them to guarantee sufficient supplies and send goods.

"Around Thursday noon, we began posting QR codes of the designated supermarkets on the public notice board and sending information to online groups chats along with a manual explaining how to shop for goods online," she said.

Meanwhile, a set of shelves was set up near the gate of the complex where incoming packages and shopping bags would be temporarily placed for residents to pick up, so as to minimize contact between residents and other workers.

"Even though couriers are allowed to deliver takeouts to the gate, some of them are reluctant to come out of concern of affecting their digital codes for health status," she said. "To address the last-mile problem, volunteers and social workers have stepped up."

Lu Hongying, a 59-year-old resident at the Tianhejiayuan community, is one of the volunteers helping with arranging deliveries and maintaining order at testing sites.

"I think many residents here were caught by surprise by the sudden lockdown because, for a long time, the virus felt very far away from us," she said. "It was natural to feel nervous and panic at the beginning."

"But we have largely adjusted to the new routine and calmed down as most of our daily demands can be met," Lu added.