Shanghai's first 24-hour suicide hotline will expand its services to five other locations in the country to meet the huge demand for psychological aid and suicide intervention.

The hotline, which began to use the new number 400-161-9995 from Friday, was launched at the end of last year by the nonprofit organization The Life Education and Crisis Intervention Center.

Services will be extended to Beijing, Shenzhen, and provinces of Henan, Hebei and Jilin starting from Dec 3.