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.