Meet the 'Iron Woman' in charge of transferring passengers at Pudong Airport
Wang Yueren (2nd right) arranges transfer routes for overseas travelers with her colleagues at the Pudong airport.
Wang Yueren has been given the nickname "Iron Woman" by her colleagues, because she has walked more than 20,000 paces a day at Pudong International Airport's T2 terminal for the last two years but is still always full of energy.
Since January 2020 after the coronavirus outbreak, Wang, 34, has been arranging the transfer of nearly a million travelers from overseas at Pudong airport.
All the travelers are subject to a "close-loop" quarantine management, meaning they would have no contact with others until their central and home quarantines are finished.
Some 810,000 passengers in about 60,000 batches have been transferred from the airport to their designated quarantine hotels in the "close-loops" since January 2020, the Shanghai Airport Authority said on Sunday.
"I feel like I am safeguarding the gate of the country and city," said Wang, deputy leader of the airport's anti-COVID19 transfer team at T2 terminal.
After joining the airport in 2010, Wang worked for the transport assistance department. It was a busy post because she often had to coordinate with the city's bus, cab and subway authorities to ensure the transport of arriving passengers.
The pressure and risk of her job have increased dramatically since the coronavirus pandemic, especially amid the surging number of imported COVID-19 cases recently.
Pudong airport accounts for about a third of China's inbound and outbound overseas flights as well as half of imported and exported coronavirus prevention supplies.
Wang Yueren (left) checks the information of arriving travelers at Pudong airport.
Surging imported cases
Amid a new wave in the global pandemic caused by the Omicron variant, which is more transmissible than the previously dominant Delta variant, Shanghai has reported 350-plus imported cases since January 1, or some 25 cases a day on average, according to data from the Shanghai Health Commission.
During peak periods, Wang had to receive some 20 landing flights and coordinated the transfer of some 1,500 passengers every day.
When an overseas flight landed at Pudong airport, Wang and her colleagues collect their identity cards or passports, help them register their information and send them to their designated transfer buses.
Dressed in a hazmat suit, Wang always walks fast between the arrival level and the parking garage of T2, accompanying batches of travelers from abroad.
"I review my work procedure every day though I've been repeating the job for over two years," Wang said. "There is no room for even a tiny mistake."
Before working, she eats some chocolate bars or other high-calorie food to keep herself energetic before putting on the hazmat suit – which she will wear for the next 10 hours.
She often has to explain the policies to anxious passengers or offer assistance to those in need during the transferring period.
Some children traveling alone had to finish the central quarantine by themselves. Wang will explain the procedure repeatedly and remind them to send the vehicle information and address of quarantine sites to their parents.
"Most travelers are cooperative and strictly obey the rules," Wang said. "It is my duty to keep them safe and untroubled."
Wang Yueren (middle) inspects a transfer route.
