Chinese Kiwi puts hand up to stranded New Zealanders in Wuhan

A Chinese Kiwi man says he's happy to help any New Zealanders stranded in the coronavirus-stricken city of Wuhan get much needed supplies.

Sheppard Qin says he and his wife have lived between Auckland and Wuhan, his home city, for the past 10 years.

While he admits it's unusual to see the city of 11 million people so quiet, he wasn't bothered about it being at the centre of the deadly virus which has so far claimed 81 lives and has nearly 3000 confirmed cases.

Qin, who has been in Wuhan for the past 8 months due to his wife having a baby, contacted the Herald after reading about the dire situation of Kiwi man Aaron Mahon, who has been living there for the past year with his wife and 5-year-old daughter, Taylor.

Mahon estimated they only had a few days' worth of food left, with all they have going to their daughter, Taylor.

They planned to move back to New Zealand in a few months, but were now too scared to leave their house.

"It's a deserted city, you might see one person walking in the distance and that's it.

"There's nothing open, there's no public transport. Every single road is blocked, every province is blocked. It's terrible."

"I'm looking at my daughter and ..." he began to cry.

But Qin said there were supermarkets open as they still had to cater for the approximately nine million people who remained in the city, the capital of Hubei province.

However, the problem was transportation as all the train stations had been shut down.

He had a car and offered to drop off any supplies that the Mahon family, and any of the other stranded 25 Kiwis, needed.

He said people can still drive on the roads but they had to keep in touch with local authorities about their movements.

Qin, an education consultant based in Auckland, wasn't bothered about the coronavirus outbreak and said Sars - which killed 774 people in 2003 - was worse.

"There are still nine million people in this city living here so I'm not worried about living here at all."

He said he was surprised the New Zealand Government didn't have more stringent screening procedures for passengers landing from China at the airport, suggesting they should at least be having their temperatures checked.