A clerk at Zhoushan Junliang Supermarket prepares free breakfast for local sanitation workers. [Photo/wifizs.cn]

Zhoushan Junliang Supermarket, located in Dinghai district, Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, has been providing free breakfast for sanitation workers in recent days.

"Amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, local sanitation workers have been sticking to their posts, so we want to do something for them," said Yu Meifei, manager of the supermarket. "The breakfast includes congee and various kinds of appetizers, including pickled cucumbers, fermented bean curd and salted duck egg."

According to Yu, about 50 sanitation workers come to the supermarket to have breakfast every day, and the supermarket will continue to provide free breakfast until the city wins the fight against the virus.

"The breakfast provided by the supermarket tastes very good," said Wu Guifeng, a female sanitation worker." Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic, all the breakfast bars were closed. Before the supermarket started to provide free breakfast, I hadn't had breakfast for a couple of days."

According to Wu, they have to get up around 4:00 am and start to work at 5:00 am. It is important for them to have a healthy breakfast.

"Some of the workers at our station are not Zhoushan natives. They don't have enough money to purchase healthy breakfast," said Le Wenya, director of a local sanitation institution. "The free breakfast provided by the supermarket is really helpful for them."

Le said that the work load sanitation workers amid the epidemic are higher than before as they are required to clean public toilets and disinfect sanitation facilities, including garbage trucks and trash cans.