TIANJIN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Wang Juan and her six-year-old twin daughters spent the Lunar New Year holiday in a hotel-turned isolation site in north China's Tianjin Municipality.
Wang took her children to visit her husband in Malaysia before the Spring Festival. When they returned to China by air, three passengers on the plane were found to have abnormal temperatures. Wang and all other people onboard had to be taken to a hotel near Tianjin Binhai International Airport.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the hotel became the first temporary isolation site for people under quarantine in Tianjin.
China has been building such isolation wards to help contain the spread of the virus. In late January, Shanghai finished building 60 isolation sites. Across China, many provinces have launched similar projects to cut virus transmission, including Hubei, Shandong, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Gansu.
China is feeling the pinch of the deadly epidemic, with health authorities on Tuesday saying that the overall confirmed cases had reached 42,638 on the Chinese mainland by the end of Monday, and 1,016 people had died of the disease.
Tianjin is one of the earliest localities in China to take strict measures isolate virus transmission.
"In the past, staying at home was the main form of quarantine, but this could lead to transmission among family members," said Han Jinyan, an official with Tianjin's municipal health commission. "Under such circumstances, it is necessary to set up such isolation wards to contain transmission."
Before the Spring Festival, Tianjin changed the hotel into its first isolation site. On Jan. 27, Tianjin launched a city-wide transformation, with 18,500 houses changed into isolation wards within two weeks. By 8 a.m. on Feb. 7, the city had placed 1,474 suspected cases under quarantine.
Xinhua reporters visited an isolation site in Tianjin's Dongli District. It was a three-story hotel, with a new, temporary office established inside a container in the hotel. Hospital staff were busy attending to those in the hotel. Each person had his or her own room, with TV sets, Wi-Fi access and restrooms.
"The government rented the hotel," said Liu Yun, with the district health commission. "Many hotel owners were supportive, and brought fruits and flowers."
In another isolation site in Wuqing District, more than 180 people had checked in. In each room, authorities had prepared underwear, socks, toiletries, plastic basins, feminine hygiene products, towels, hair dryers and hangers.
"Several sealed vans bring meals to us, it's like ordering food delivery," said Wang, one of those at the isolation site. A lunch typically includes steamed meat, chicken, mushrooms, vegetables, eggs, soup and fruits. "We eat what the medical staff eat."
In the three separate isolation sites that Xinhua visited in Tianjin, the government had prepared sufficient medical staff, who took temperatures and observed the physical conditions of the suspected cases. Authorities provided free treatment and medicine, and psychological experts were there to help relieve their pressure.
But life in the isolation wards can be boring.
"To release their pressure, we established a WeChat group to cheer them up every day," said health official Zhang Shixi of Dongli District. "We celebrate birthdays for them, and we provide newspapers and magazines."
The measures soon soothed people's emotions. In the WeChat chat group, for example, one isolated woman always reminds people to take good care of themselves.
"Girls, time to put on some facial masks," the woman says every day in the group.
When Xinhua conducted a video interview with Wang Juan, her two daughters were drawing pictures beside her. The girls bowed to the medical staff at the isolation site for their kindness and helpfulness.
"They bought books, pens and paper for the kids," Wang said. "I'm very thankful."
"We need to treat them like our own family," said Xiao Qingdong, who is in charge of logistics at one isolation site in Tianjin. "This is a very special time, and we will get through this by sticking together."
As requirements are quite high in the isolation wards, medical staff usually carry life necessities to the isolated rooms themselves.
"The medical staff have to bring hundreds of boxes of bottled water to the rooms," said Song Guangming, a medical head at an isolation site in Wuqing District. "Sometimes the nurses are too tired, and they just lie on the floor."
Song said the medical staff "forget the time, and forget the coldness outside."
Wang and her daughters had finished 14 days of quarantine, and checked out of the facility. Before leaving, Wang left a note at the hotel, which read, "Thank you to the medical staff for your great care during this time, you deserve the world."
