Meal deliveries for medical workers, free rides to hospital, and even mass singalongs from apartment windows - the lockdown of Wuhan city has brought out a certain esprit de corps among its people, who have tried to cope the best they can.

In the wee hours last Saturday, the first day of Chinese New Year, Madam Qiu Beiwen lay wide awake. Like much of Wuhan, the 28-year-old fashion merchandiser has slept fitfully since a mysterious Sars-like virus surfaced in the city, initially infecting what health officials said were dozens, before numbers suddenly spiked, prompting the government to put the metropolis under an unprecedented lockdown.