A helicopter service company in Shanghai has offered to deliver urgently needed medical supplies to Wuhan, the epicenter of the ongoing novel coronavirus epidemic. The first delivery, which comprised 20 boxes of medical supplies, landed at Wuhan Xinhua Road Stadium on Feb 4.

Cao Xintian, founder of Shanghai New Sky Helicopter Co Ltd, told Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News that the flight, which was undertaken by a civilian helicopter, took off at 5:50 pm on Feb 3 in Shanghai and landed in Hefei, Anhui province, at around 8 pm. At 8 am today, it took off again and arrived at its final destination at 9:30 am.

The supplies included goggles, medical masks, protective suits and a box of therapeutic reagents consigned by Shanghai Chest Hospital to the Shanghai medical team in Hubei province.

It is estimated that the expenses for the round trip will exceed 500,000 yuan ($71,478).

Despite the high expense, Cao said the endeavor is worthwhile considering that the supplies needed to be transported quickly and some have to stay in low temperature conditions.

More materials will be sent to Wuhan from Shanghai through the New Sky helicopters in the coming days, Cao said, before adding that the company is also planning to set up a hotline to provide free transport for donated medical materials to the most needed places in Wuhan.

"Today is the beginning of spring according to the Chinese calendar," Cao said. "We hope that together we can help Wuhan embrace spring as soon as possible."

Sun Zhongqin from Xinmin Evening News contributed to this story.