Modern Express (xdkb.net), a mainstream news agency in Jiangsu province and the press arm of Phoenix Publishing & Media Group (PPMG), dispatched a reporting team to Wuhan, Hubei province, where the novel coronavirus outbreak was first identified, on Jan 29.

The six-member team is led by Sun Lanlan, a member of the news agency's editorial committee and a seasoned reporter. Members include rookie editors who volunteered to go to severely hit regions and an experienced photographer who reported on the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province.

Zhao Lei, president of Modern Express, briefed his team on their missions and how to prevent against infection before their departure. Each member was equipped with abundant medical supplies, including N95 face masks, disinfectant, and thermometers.

They will make use of the agency's new media resources to cover stories in Wuhan and help fight against the outbreak.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, Modern Express has been working around the clock to present the public with the latest news on the topic, with about 2,000 articles, short videos, posters, and more posted on xdkb.net, myzaker.com, WeChat, Weibo, and Douyin－known as TikTok outside of China.

The number of pageviews on Nanjing's myzaker.com channel has increased five-fold, 10 of their WeChat articles have been read over 100,000 times, with the most popular one receiving over 18 million views, and its Douyin account has been viewed 7 million times. As of Jan 29, the company's total pageviews on all media platforms had exceeded 150 million.