CUHK-Shenzhen Takes Action against COVID-2019
The Spring Festival of 2020 was overshadowed by a sudden coronavirus outbreak. As the number of confirmed and suspected cases rises, thousands of health care workers have joined the front line to fight against the 2019 novel coronavirus. Inspired by them, the students and staff of CUHK-Shenzhen are contributing in different ways.
Epidemic Prevention and Control Team Established
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen attaches great importance to the prevention and control of the epidemic, and promptly set up an Epidemic Prevention and Control Team headed by President Xu Yangsheng. Coordinated by the President's office, the special team includes an integrated coordination team, a medical and security team, a faculty working team, a student working team, and a public information team.
Under the lead of the epidemic prevention and control team, a number of measures have been taken, such as designating quarantine areas, disinfecting major public areas, checking temperature, tracking the situation of quarantine personnel, and properly handling masks after use. No special circumstances have occurred for the time being.
For the security reason, the access to the campus has been strictly restricted. Outside visitors are not permitted to enter, while students and staff must receive temperature detection before entering.
Under the lead of the epidemic prevention and control team, a number of measures have been taken, such as designating quarantine areas, disinfecting major public areas, checking temperature, tracking the situation of quarantine personnel, and properly handling masks after use. No special circumstances have occurred for the time being.
Online Teaching and Learning in Preparation
Confronted with the epidemic, the University has announced the deferment of the start date of Spring semester to February 24th 2020 or after. In order to minimize the impacts on our students’ academic progress, online teaching and learning will be arranged for students from February 17th.
The University will provide Blackboard, an e-learning system, Panopto, an online video platform, and Zoom, a real-time live teaching system, for all instructors and students to carry out the online teaching and learning activities.
Online Psychological Support Provided
Considering the psychological impact that the emergency may have on the students, the Student Counselling and Development Service of the University’s Office of Student Affairs has decided to provide online psychological counselling on a daily basis from February 1st. The colleges pay special attention the mental health of 253 students who are currently in Hubei province. Staff at colleges contacted all of them to know their situation and provide necessary support.
In addition, Prof. Yangsheng Xu, president of CUHK-Shenzhen, together with deans and masters, wrote letters students to give them confidence and encouragement to overcome the difficult and unusual period.
With your young age, dear students, this might be the first time you consciously witness a devastating disease sweeping the globe. Be cautious, but do not be afraid. On the one hand, we should take due caution in our daily life for it was lack of caution in the emerging state that has escalated the outbreak. On the other hand, please know that all crises will eventually exhaust themselves.
Letter written by Professor Xu
Joint Efforts made by Students and Faculty
Three research groups of the School of Life and Health Sciences (LHS), CUHK-Shenzhen, are actively working on the medication and treatment for the current coronavirus epidemic that is endangering thousands of people’s lives.
Professor Dequan Ye, dean of LHS, is currently engaged in a project to develop neutralizing antibodies for 2019-nCoV.The project will soon start with the R&D strategy and technical route confirmed. Another project led by Professor Pan Wang is focusing on the development of steroidal drugs against the coronavirus. Meanwhile, professor Hongli Hu is leading the third project of LHS to analyze the structure of the S protein of the novel coronavirus as well as its receptor ACE2 complex with the aid of three-dimensional cryo-EM reconstruction technology at the KOBILKA Cryo-Electron Microscopy Center.
At the same time, CUHK-Shenzhen students are also making contribution in their own way. Zhong Jialin, class of 2015 graduate, wrote an original article named Precautions for Grassroots Epidemic Coordinators to help grassroots cadres, her mother for example, to improve their self-protection awareness and ability while working for the community.
Attracting wide attention and praises of netizens, the article got over 1.5 million hits as of January 30, and was reprinted by more than 300 WeChat official public accounts, such as Grassroots Officials News (基层干部参阅), Langfang Communist Youth League (廊坊共青团), and Yichang Xiling News (宜昌西陵发布). A translation into the Uyghur language will soon be available online to help more people protect themselves during the outbreak.
Zhou Dazhi, a graduate student of EMSc Programme in Supply Chain and Logistics Management, donated 3,000 N95 masks to local hospitals and front-line medical staff on the morning of January 23. As executive director and general manager of Liaoning Medical Union Logistics Co., Ltd. and Dalian Yijia Medical and Health Industrial Park.
Zhou said: "I am now working in the medical logistics industry. Many companies have warehouses in my company. So, we have these masks and other medical products and resources to support the hospitals in urgent need. We are ready to stand by 24/7. "
"Like dust, we are just ordinary people. But even if we can only ignite a little spark with our power, we are willing to use this spark to light up even an inch of land."
This is the utterance of CUHK-Shenzhen student Sun Qianhui, who is also a graduate of class of 2015. Sun organized a “Hubei Aid Team”, gathering over 700 volunteers to raise money and supplies for Hubei Province. She also managed to transport medical supplies, such as goggles, medical gloves and N95 masks, to local hospitals in Hubei.
