Students in Wuhan cope with lockdown at universities

Yi Yuanxiang, director of the university's department of student's affairs, said 37 undergraduate students remained at the university. Student counselors have been asked to hold daily video chats with them.

Huazhong university has offered free meals, daily necessities and protective equipment to the students, and students from impoverished families were also given subsidies of 2,000 yuan ($282), he said.

Since Wuhan's lockdown was lifted on April 8, eight students have returned home. The university continues to offer necessary help to remaining students, he added.

Ahmat Tohniyaz, a senior undergraduate student at Huazhong, said he will go home after graduation.

"I look forward to meeting and talking with my classmates and teammates after they return to Wuhan and attending the graduation ceremony," the 25-year-old said.

Although Huazhong has allowed remaining students to go outside the campus after April 8, he has chosen to stay in his dorm most of the time.

"Wuhan people have sacrificed so much by staying at home for so long to curb the spread of the epidemic," he said. "What I can do is to hang in there a little bit longer until the city fully recovers."

Liu Yunzhen, a senior student at Wuhan University who, like Gulmira, also remained on campus, said she has spent her time in her dorm writing a graduation thesis and doing an internship with an animation company.

Liu said she was not too worried during the last three months, as she knew she would be safe as long as she did not leave her dorm.

Gulmira has been taking online courses since Feb 17, and her life in the dorm became busier with the start of the new semester online.

"I hope my classmates and teachers can return to the school soon," she said. "I really miss going to the classrooms for classes and having Xinjiang fried rice-flour noodles with my friends."

Zhou Lihua contributed to this story.