Ma Zenglong, an engineer from the Beijing Daxing Branch of China Unicom, installs a dedicated network line in the district’s makeshift isolation area. [Photo provided by Daxing district]

Beijing’s Daxing district equipped a medical isolation area with 55 internet protocol televisions and 500 megabyte dedicated network lines on July 5 to meet the needs of patients infected with novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Beijing Daxing Branch of the China Unicom, the nation’s telecom giant, spent 13 hours on the installation.

In order to ensure the implementation, leaders of the branch held a meeting overnight to work out a solution with their minds targeted on the risk and difficulty of undertaking such a task in the isolation area.

After deliberation, the company selected Ma Zenglong, a skilled installation and maintenance engineer, to proceed.

In the early morning of July 4, Ma showed up in the isolation area wearing a protective suit, mask, foot covers, hoods and gloves which increased his discomfort in the hot summer.

“Though I was not afraid of either hot weather or hardship, I had some fear to enter the isolation ward at the beginning,” Ma recalled, “But later I told myself that I could make it as long as protective measures were taken.”

To ensure engineering safety, the general manager and deputy general-manager of the company led a team to stand guard outside the isolation courtyard and to offer services related to the work.