As the number of COVID-19 infections has been rising, cities across China have rolled out new measures to cope with this situation.

In Suzhou, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, nucleic acid testing sites that are no longer being used have been transformed into special stations to provide medical treatment for residents who have a fever. People can get the diagnosis and prescription medicines from doctors at the stations. The whole process takes about ten minutes.

To provide faster and more convenient medical treatment for residents, the National Health Commission issued a notice this week to expand online medical services for COVID-19 patients.

Beijing recently released a list of hospitals and medical institutions that provide online diagnosis and treatment services, as well as community health service centers that receive patients with 11 types of symptoms including fever, dry cough, sore throat and runny nose.

Other cities like Guangzhou and Chengdu also carry out online medical services, providing more choices for residents to get treatment at home, which is crucial for preventing cross-infection. Eleven districts in Shenzhen have opened 24-hour hotlines, providing medical service, as well as psychological counseling for residents who feel depressed or fretful amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Currently, the priority of epidemic control is to guarantee access to medical services and meet the need for medicines from the public, especially the elderly, pregnant women, children and patients with chronic underlying diseases, according to China's National Health Commission at a recent press conference.

In the face of the rising need for medicines, cities including Beijing, Wuhan, Hefei and Fuzhou have been distributing medical kits to residents for free. Each medical kit includes N95 facemasks, a thermometer, alcohol spray, cold medicines and antigen test kits. Health authorities in Jinan, the capital of east China's Shandong Province, have allocated 1.1 million tablets of ibuprofen to clinics and pharmacies in recent days. Some pharmacies also provide antipyretics for residents for free as long as they have a picture of thermometer that show their high body temperature.

Residents are also helping each other in their neighborhoods in the face of the new epidemic situation. In Beijing's Dongcheng district, residents volunteered to deliver medicines and daily necessities like vegetables.

In Huangshi, a city in central China's Hubei Province, residents give out extra medicines to those who have not stored enough of them, in response to the calls from the government. Residents can ask for medicines in the WeChat group if in need, and other residents would lend a helping hand if they have medicines.