According to Shanghai Pudong Domestic Service Association, in early March there were 510  member enterprises affiliated with the association, but that number had dropped to 469 by month's end.

Being forced to change from traditional household cleaning to door-to-door disinfection services for enterprises and institutions, domestic service enterprises have been encouraged to develop new ideas to cope with the difficult conditions created by the novel coronavirus epidemic.

In 2019, Yue-life was one of the leading enterprises in the industry in Shanghai, earning close to 20 million yuan ($2.85 million) a month. After the 2020 Spring Festival holiday, Yue-life lost 80 percent of its orders.

In ordinary times, people are always moving around residential areas, but the epidemic has made them quiet, and because housekeeping services are rooted in communities these businesses have had to adapt to the new situation.

Instead of visiting homes, employees from Yue-life are carrying large spraying equipment on their backs to disinfect large spaces as well as watering cans in their hands for small, narrow areas so they can provide some domestic services for local residents.

Mao Runzhou, manager of the Yue-life community micro-center, said that previously these were value-added services, but after the outbreak, "space disinfection" was upgraded to an independent product, with a trained disinfection team providing services for public places such as government buildings, commercial buildings, local enterprises and public institutions.

The domestic service industry's "big home" concept covers cleaning and medical care. However, the work has different priorities, with food and medicine at the top of the list, followed by cleaning and other services.

Shanghai will focus on its high-end international business district, and commercial residential communities to meet the family household cleaning requirements.

Yue-life employees protected from head to toe are ready for a day's work. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]