A head nurse introduces a patient's conditions to a night care team on December 31, 2022. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Medical staff members on the frontline of Beijing's COVID-19 fight have continued to stick to their posts with full dedication even during New Year while facing mounting pressures as local infections surged over last few weeks.

China's medical system entered a challenging period when COVID-19 response was optimized in early December 2022. 

On the virus response frontline in the Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), some doctors exhibiting mild symptoms carried on diligently. Some voluntarily applied to return to work just a day after turning negative, while other young doctors applied for more shifts especially in emergency rooms where more help was needed. Everyone took practical actions to meet the maximum treatment needs of critically ill patients.

At nearly 60 years old, Li Taisheng is a senior expert in the national medical treatment team for COVID-19. Only four days after his infection, Li, also the leader of the medical treatment team for critically ill patients at the PUMCH in Beijing, returned to the frontline to care for his patients, participating in consultations and ward visits, acting as the barrier between life and death, just as he did when he assisted in the epidemic fight in Wuhan in 2020.

On the morning of the first day of 2023, the family member of a 66-year-old patient gave thumbs-up to Li as soon as he saw him coming to conduct ward rounds, thanking him for saving the life of his loved one. The intubated patient, still unable to speak, struggled to give thanks with a clenched fist - a sign of resilience. "Happy New Year! In the New Year, your new life begins!" Li replied.

On the last night of 2022, as most people enjoyed themselves through various forms of celebration, a group of medics were busy suctioning sputum and changing the dressing of patients, closely monitoring each patient's respiratory progress.

At the ICU of PUMCH, the medical staff focused on data from life support machines relied upon by critically ill patients such as the ECMO.

On New Year's Eve, when the midnight bell was about to ring, the medical staff did not say "Happy New Year" to each other as most people usually do, as they even did not notice the conspicuous electronic clock at the nurses' station, but all busied themselves around beds in silence.

In the course of the storm of this epidemic, Chinese medical teams held hands with patients and supported them through this difficult moment on the last day of 2022, on the first day of 2023, and will continue to do so every day before and after, for the sake of the people.

A nurse at Peking Union Medical College Hospital monitors a critically ill patient in the ICU ward at midnight on New Year's Day on January 1, 2023. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Doctor Liao Guangjie makes a video call to his daughter on New Year's Eve while on a break from work, wishing the whole family a happy New Year on December 31, 2022. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Li Taisheng (right), director of infectious diseases department at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, talks with a colleague about the conditions of patients on December 31, 2022. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Doctors at the infectious disease department check the X-ray of a patient's lungs on December 31, 2022. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

A nurse records in-patient data at an ICU nurses station on December 31, 2022. Photo: Cui Meng/GT