BEIJING — China has opened hotlines and online platforms to provide psychological aid in epidemic-stricken Hubei province to better support the control of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Feb 25.

The psychological aid is available daily from 8 am to 10 pm, offering services for medical staff, infected patients and their families, police, and security personnel on the front line of the epidemic fight in Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, the MOE said on its website.

With voluntary psychological professionals from over 200 universities and institutions, the service is also open to the public 14 hours a day, able to serve 1,000 people simultaneously via telephone and social media platform WeChat.