Volunteering straight from the heart

Beijing visitor who helped build Wuhan hospital had personal reasons for joining effort in outbreak epicenter

A minivan parked 20 meters from a two-story building in a village on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province, served as Ming Hongsheng's temporary shelter for two weeks.

Ming, 42, was one of the builders of Leishenshan Hospital, a makeshift medical facility rapidly built to treat novel coronavirus pneumonia patients as Wuhan fought to control the outbreak.

After construction was completed last month 5, Ming parked his minivan in front of the family home in Liuxian village, in Wuhan's Xinzhou district, to quarantine himself from his relatives for 14 days.

He removed the vehicle's seats, laid down some duvets and turned the van into his accommodation. "The virus is not scary, it is people-to-people contact that is scary. I want to protect my family as much as I can," he said.

Ming was born in the village, but later moved to Beijing to run a small market.

On Jan 20, he drove to Wuhan in his minivan with his wife to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his parents and siblings. As the disease spread, authorities locked down the city on Jan 23, closing all inbound and outbound transportation routes.

Two days later, Wuhan started building Leishenshan Hospital to provide beds for patients with severe symptoms.