Over half of the recent COVID-19 cases in Yangzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, are elderly people. Owing to their age and high susceptibility to infection, the older generation has become the focus of care and attention. 

Wang Jing, director of Qionghuaguan Community in the city, has been visiting the families in the community to ensure they are healthy and taken care of in the backdrop of an outbreak of COVID-19 last month.

Wang's family has been working in the community for three generations after her grandma started what was called Qionghuaguan Committee in 1956.

"Since the lockdown, residents can order food through an online service. Those who don't have a smartphone are offered two plans to choose from. For residents with restrained mobility, we can deliver goods to their doorstep," Wang told CGTN.

"My children couldn't come to take care of me and I couldn't go to them. The community cares about us. They came to remind us of COVID-19 testing each time, and brought us groceries," said Zhang Yuefen, a resident in the community.

In Yangzhou's older districts, characterized by winding streets, historic buildings and a slow-paced life, about half of the residents are elderly. Serving them has become a primary job for the community, especially during the outbreak.

Yangzhou has conducted over 10 rounds of COVID-19 nucleic acid testing since the outbreak in July. The recent testing has focused on those previously untested. This includes elderly people with restrained mobility. For the latest rounds, community and medical staff went to the old residents' home door to door to collect samples for testing.

"We've been doing this for four days. In previous rounds of large-scale testing, the government found that some elderly people had not been tested because their inability to walk or even to move," said Zhang Xuan, community worker at Dongguan Street, a high-risk area since August 12.

The number of new cases in Yangzhou has dropped to single digits since Monday. Residents said the efforts of community workers are making a difference.

(Cover: A community worker takes a COVID-19 testing sample of an elderly resident at his home. /CGTN)