Pregnant women in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, can utilize green channels when undergoing testing amid the latest COVID-19 outbreak in the city.

Seniors and children can also take advantage of the "express lines" as the city conducts its seventh round of mass testing, which was underway at press time.

Yangzhou has more than 480 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant since the outbreak began in July.

Facing the resurgence of the coronavirus and under pandemic quarantine rules, pregnant women are under a dilemma about whether to go to the hospital for normal checkups. In response to the challenging situation, authorities say they are doing all they can. 

After the outbreak began, medical experts in the city stressed that pregnant women should not skip their prenatal checkups. There are usually seven to 11 prenatal checkups during pregnancy. Some can be postponed during quarantines or outbreaks, but some are necessary.

Pregnant women living in medium and high-risk communities can go to the hospital with a negative test result, taken within a 48-hour period.

"We need to notify the community before we do the prenatal tests. During the outbreak, our community only allows one person out of each family outdoors," said Yang Min, who is eight months pregnant and has undergone six nucleic acid tests since the outbreak began in July. 

"But due to my special circumstances, I need to be accompanied by my husband, which the community fully understands," she added. 

Yang and her husband, Yu Banglei, live in Xiyuan Community, which is currently in the low-risk area.

"At first, I was worried because the epidemic happened so suddenly," Yu said. "I hope to take more care of my wife, both materially and spiritually. So far, with the control measures in place, I believe the epidemic will end as soon as possible."

In late July, one person infected 35 others in Yangzhou as they were being tested for the virus. To prevent cross infections, people are being tested in batches, and social distancing measures are in place.

(Cover: Yang Min and her husband undergo the sixth round of COVID-19 testing in their community. /CGTN)