Expats in Wuxi's Xinwu district contribute to anti-virus work

As the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak becomes a global struggle, a number of expats working and living in Wuxi's Xinwu district have been helping where they can.

Following the guide released by the local government, many expats have been acting selflessly in Xinwu district.

A Japanese businessman has returned to Wuxi against all odds and taken the lead in donating to Wuhan to help fight the outbreak there. Some British volunteers have provided services and support to frontline medical workers. A Dutch brought back huge quantities of much-needed goods to Xinwu to help fight COVID-19. An Italian manager stayed in Wuxi to help his company's employees resume work amid outbreak prevention efforts. These are just a few of many examples.

These foreign expats in Xinwu witnessed firsthand the work resumption process while fighting the virus.

The Wuxi Xinwu People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries interviewed some of the expats and encouraged them to share their stories and experiences related to dealing with the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak and resuming work in the district.

Filippo Betti, an Italian who works as senior director of Ariston Thermo SPA, stayed at the company's Wuxi factory when the virus first broke out in China. He asked the company's Italian headquarters to send about 10,000 masks as the Wuxi factory was in short supply. With his help, the Wuxi factory was able to resume operations in a short amount of time.

"What really impressed me through this COVID-19 episode, is the effectiveness of all the actions Chinese government has been taking to stop the moving of people around the country in just few days, so as to control the spread of virus effectively, and to put the whole country back to 'safe' conditions within short period of time. Meanwhile I would like to thank our New District, especially Singapore Industrial Park, to their leaders and staff, for the sufficient support to Ariston through the whole resumption process. They really did a lot to support us," Filippo said.

Okazaki Tadaaki, a Japanese man who works as general manager of Ketela Automotive Environmental Technology Co, spoke highly of the local government for their efforts to help his company resume operations and ensure a safe environment.

Marco Frei, a Swedish man who works as director of quality control at Bühler China, said that his company started resuming work on Feb 10, and has taken strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

"Before resuming work the company's administrative department has prepared a large number of prevention and control substances, including masks and gloves for employee to use… I returned to Wuxi on Feb 1 on a business trip in Switzerland. Follow up the instructions from government request I was staying home for a 14-day quarantine before going to company for work. During this time I had warm suggestions from my company colleagues and good care. Meanwhile I also got good care from community where I had been lived."