After driving more than 20 hours, He Xingsheng and his volunteer team arrived in Shanghai Tuesday on a disinfection mission under the city's three-zone COVID-19 control system implemented on Monday.

The group's 23 members, armed with disinfecting supplies and equipment and protective suits, are responsible for sanitizing residential areas under closed-off management.

He, a veteran of volunteer teams during the Wenchuan earthquake and Wuhan's early fight against COVID-19, established his own team, Mountains and Rivers Rescue, in 2021.

"The situation in Shanghai is unexpected," He told CGTN.

He said they want to offer help to "as many as we can."

The group, which traveled from Lanzhou City in northwest China's Gansu Province last week, is the only volunteer unit in Shanghai's Huangpu District, according to the district's bureau of urban management and law enforcement.

'No country, no home'

The team is working in communities that have reported COVID-19 infections in the past seven days. Its members are keenly aware that this raises health risks for them. 

"Actually, I didn't tell my family before I left," team member Han Wenhai told CGTN, sobbing.

When asked to comment on why he chose to come, Han said, "Where there's a country, there's a home."

Love not only melts hearts, but can also make people stronger.

Women are among the group, including Wei Qian, who is responsible for conducting routine health checks but can also assist in disinfecting. 

Shanghai registered 3,200 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 19,872 asymptomatic cases on Thursday, local authorities said on Friday morning.