Eye on the storm

Volunteers have also undertaken crowdfunding campaigns to get urgently needed materials.

One volunteer provides free HIV/AIDS medication, which is being used by some hospitals to combat the new coronavirus, to patients' families.

And a restaurant near a hospital also provides about 100 free meals for medical workers every day.

"There's no particular reason for doing this," the owner says, smiling.

"It's just what we should do, especially when I have no business to run … I'll continue to deliver meals until everything is fine."

Lin becomes sullen when referring to the death of a volunteer driver on Feb 3. But he remains determined.

"There's always sacrifice in an outbreak like this," Lin says.

"What I can do is try my best to protect myself and people around me from getting infected. I sometimes feel tears in my eyes when shooting. But I don't stop recording. I feel at ease when editing the videos at home."

He hasn't planned to turn the vlogs into a documentary or feature film.

"I don't think that far ahead," he says. "But I'll keep rolling out vlogs if I find things to record."

Lin asked a takeout-delivery man in one vlog: "What do you want to do most after this outbreak?"

The man responded: "To eat baozaifan (steamed rice in a clay pot) on the second floor of that shopping mall. It's so delicious!"

When asked the same question, Lin responds: "I'll rush to my girlfriend, who's not in Wuhan. We should have been together for the Lunar New Year's Eve banquet."

The crisis has changed some people's attitudes toward life. Some of his friends, who advocated being single, now hope to find romance or marriage.

"I used to often notice Wuhan's shortcomings," he says. "But my feelings toward the city have deepened. To live is a great thing."