Five men from Shandong province pose for a photo in front of a truck of facial masks in Huanggang, Hubei province, on Thursday, Jan 30, 2020. [Photo by Kong Guanjun / for chinadaily.com.cn]

Five young men took turns at the wheel to drive 17 hours from Gaomi in East China's Shandong province to Huanggang in Central China's Hubei province, to deliver 50,000 facial masks in a bid to contribute to efforts to prevent and control the spread of novel coronavirus, iqilu.com reported on Saturday.

The five young men set off at 10 pm on Wednesday. At 2 pm the next day, they arrived at Huanggang, the second-worst hit area in Hubei since the outbreak began in the provincial capital, Wuhan.

Ruan Chen, a medical staff member from Huangzhou District People's Hospital at Huanggang, Central China's Hubei province, poses for a photo with the five young men in Huanggang, Hubei province, on Thursday, Jan 30, 2020. [Photo by Kong Guanjun / for chinadaily.com.cn]

Due to lockdown on parts of the highway and safety concerns, a Huangzhou District People's Hospital staff member met them and accepted the facial masks.

"We appreciated their efforts on driving such a long distance to send the facial masks. They must have overcome many difficulties," said Ruan Chen, the medical staffer.