With the help of the Hubei Charity Federation and China Railway Wuhan Group, 300,000 facemasks, 90,000 alcohol disinfection tablets and 2,000 bottles of liquid soap were transported to Wuhan on Jan 21.

"These fans are from all walks of life. Some helped contact facemask factories overseas, while others, who are medical professionals, helped contact hospitals in Wuhan. They are very efficient, devoted and offer help unconditionally," Wang said.

A fan from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, who joined the donation drive, said: "One of the fans is a Wuhan native. She shared details of her life with us, such as persuading her parents to wear facemasks and staying at home to avoid possible infection. When an ambulance comes to her neighborhood, she is worried. She is terrified and all of the fans in the group tried to comfort her, though many of us have never met.

"Fans are a community devoted to our idols... We also play a role when disaster happens, like the ongoing viral outbreak," she said.

Li Qiang, a senior government official in Wuhan, said that by noon on Friday, the city had received public donations of about 2.6 billion yuan.

Singer-songwriter Han Hong called for her celebrity friends as well as more people to donate for Wuhan, the city hardest-hit by the outbreak.

By Thursday, more than 100 Chinese celebrities, including actors, actresses, singers and songwriters, had joined the donation effort and more than 30 million yuan had been raised via the Han Hong Love Charity Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Han in 2012.

"We all want to help and are doing our best to do so," Han wrote on her Sina Weibo account on Friday.

"We wake up every day and receive lots of bad news about the outbreak. However, we also have a lot of energy and are touched by many kind people, who have joined the battle in their own ways."

All interviewees use their online aliases in this story.