AS the Spring Festival is drawing near, the Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint, which is located between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, has seen some Hong Kong residents traveling northward to the mainland to visit their relatives as in previous years.

Although the number of inbound travelers has declined because of the pandemic, Yang Tao, a police officer working at the Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint Exit-Entry Inspection Station, is going to spend his 30th Spring Festival on duty this year, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

Faced with all kinds of inbound travelers, Yang and his colleagues take risks every time they are on duty since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Getting fully “armored” is a necessary procedure for them before starting work. First, they need to put on headgear, wear a protective suit, plus a pair of gloves and foot covers, then a second layer of gloves and finally a face shield on the head.

It takes some eight minutes for each police officer to don the whole set of protective clothing before they start their work. And taking off the protective clothing can be an even more strenuous process.

Different from the traveler inspection hall, which sees fewer travelers in the evening, the inspection site for cross-border cargo is bustling.

At around 9 p.m., Feb. 2, the number of inbound trucks suddenly rose. “Open an additional lane immediately,” ordered Guo Jiangang, deputy head of the ninth team on duty.

Four cargo inspection lanes were available and some inbound trucks in the line were then transferred to the newly added lane. The police officers carried out inspections of the trucks in the front of their respective lanes and checked the truck drivers at close proximity.

A cross-border truck driver, surnamed Wen, said the 24-hour customs clearance service for cargo inspection has made it flexible for them to go through the customs clearance process at any time.

But what may be a boon to the cross-border truck drivers may be a challenge to the police officers.

According to Guo, most of the police officers with the ninth team on duty are experienced workers, with an average age of 53. Guo himself, 35, is the youngest.

Guo said they are working in shifts and their pace of life is out of line with that of normal people, which has become the biggest challenge for the older workers.

(Lai Huijun, Zhang Yu)