China Zhang Lin and other Wuhan residents did not want to sit back and helplessly watched their homeland experience great tribulation.

People in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, where an outbreak of acute pneumonia caused by the corona nCoV strain, were asked to stay indoors, avoiding contact with strangers and restricting circulation on the road. Despite the infectious disease that killed 56 people, Zhang Lin and other Wuhan residents were hailed as a hero for volunteering to drive sick people to the hospital.

"We are Wuhan people and even though you have come here to support us, our people need to take action," Zhang told foreign reporters as he waited to take patients in a clinic home. "Someone has to do this."

Zhang, 48, and others mobilized by the Wuhan government to provide free transportation for patients, were needed. For many days now, traffic in this 11 million-city city has been delayed to prevent the disease from spreading, and similar measures have been extended to most of the rest of Hubei Province.

The public transport system and taxi services have been shut down and today, new bans have been placed to ban most cars on the street. The difficulty of traveling adds to the challenges of those who are ill. Even after being taken to the hospital, they also had to queue for hours to see and treat because the hospitals were overloaded.

Drivers like Yin Yu are given special permissions to drive for humanitarian reasons.

"Cars are banned, so we are responsible for taking them there and bringing them back. All are free," said Yin, 40.

For many Chinese, this attitude of volunteering is not surprising in Wuhan. The city on the Yangtze River was the starting point of an uprising that overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1911, resulting in an end to feudalism and a resounding reputation for resilient people.

That resilience was reflected in a statement issued by a public speaker in Wuhan today, advising people to ensure hygiene and to seek medical attention when signs of illness occur.

"Wuhan is a city that dares to face and continue to overcome difficulties," a female voice said. "This is not the first time we have faced the same situation. In 1998, we fought the great flood from the Yangtze River. In 2003, we faced the SARS epidemic. We were go a long way and achieve great results! ".