Monday two weeks ago marked a month since mobile game developer Jiang Wenqiang was stranded in Wuhan, the Chinese city in Hubei province where the coronavirus outbreak was first reported.

To support himself, he worked 12 hours a day collecting rubbish and scrubbing floors at a local hospital.

It was not his plan. Mr Jiang, from China's north-east city of Dalian, had been on a train from Shanghai to the southern city of Changsha in Hunan province to sign a contract with a business partner early last month. While on the train, he left his compartment to buy lunch.

Just then, the train stopped at Wuhan. People sitting near him immediately stood up to get off.

As passengers around him disembarked, the train conductor urged Mr Jiang to get off too. He tried to explain he was headed for a different city, with no success.

"They (staff) were looking at me as if I carried the virus," he told the South China Morning Post. "They kept their distance from me and backed away as I walked towards them."

He finally got off the train. The platform was empty, all entrances were closed and there was no one at the ticket stands.

He could not buy a ticket to other cities. He had become one of thousands of outsiders stranded in Wuhan as it tried desperately to contain the virus.

Since Jan 23, all transport in, out and within Wuhan has been stopped. However, some locals who had been stranded outside Hubei took trains passing through the city before begging to be let off there. More often than not, the trains made exceptions.

Mr Jiang was on one of those trains.

Wuhan is seeing light at the end of the tunnel after being on strict lockdown for two months.

Last week, it was announced that the lockdown will be lifted on April 8. The lockdown on other parts of Hubei was lifted last Tuesday.

Now, people like Mr Jiang who are stranded in the city want to go home. Many have lost their jobs, struggled with illness and had to bear large costs.

Two weeks ago, China reported zero new domestic cases for the first time. Outside Hubei province, local governments are urging gradual resumption of daily life.

Parks in Shanghai have reopened, officials in Nanjing set an example by eating out at a local restaurant.

After the initial shock wore off, Mr Jiang wandered around his unfamiliar surroundings. There were no cars on the roads, no people on the streets. He felt like a vagabond. He looked up hotels online but none was open.

He called the local police and ambulance services. Both said they wanted to help with his situation, but could not spare a car to pick him up. He started to panic. "When the police say they can't help you, who wouldn't panic?" he said.

Then he realised Wuhan must be in dire need of volunteers. He started looking up jobs online and called hospitals.

He was offered a job at the Wuhan No. 1 Hospital cleaning and taking out rubbish for 500 yuan (S$101) a day. The hospital was understaffed. Many of the regular cleaners were either locked out of the city or too afraid to come in. The hospital arranged a hotel for him to stay in and provided three meals a day.

Even though he was off the streets, it was frightening working in a place full of critically ill patients, said Mr Jiang. The hospital trained him on how to put on protective gear and went over his duties.

"I was scared to death," said Mr Jiang. "When the patients talked to me, I was nervous. When they coughed, my heart almost jumped out of my chest."

He patrolled his ward a few times a day collecting rubbish, delivering meals and disinfecting the floor.

One time, an old man was trying to stop a nosebleed. He crumpled some used tissues into a ball and threw them at a nearby bin, but they hit Mr Jiang's leg instead and left a bloodstain.

Mr Jiang immediately ran out. A nurse helped him clean up and told him to rest if he did not feel well.

"I'd rather not make money," he said. "Just leave me quarantined at a hotel and give me some food."

Hundreds of other desperate, stranded people have formed groups on Chinese messaging app WeChat to share their distress and discuss measures to take.

They posted a video on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo showing entire families stranded, wearing masks, recounting how many days they had been stuck in Wuhan and describing their misery.

"I want to go home. I want to see my friends and go to school," children said solemnly to the camera.

One woman in the group living on the outskirts of Wuhan near Xianning city said she had run out of baby milk formula.

All stores in her area had sold out. She knew there was a shop nearby in Xianning that might have stock. She begged the police repeatedly to let her go, but they would not let her.

Another said he had just opened a factory back home and all of his 70 employees were demanding their salaries. He could not get orders and could not pay back bank loans. "Fifteen years of hard work might go down the drain," he wrote.

Many did not think the lockdown would last so long. Ms Yang Hui, a woman from south-west China's Sichuan province, told the Post she blamed herself for getting her family stuck.

She came to Wuhan in January with her three-year-old son to visit her husband, who has a job there as a tunnel construction worker.

Before the city went into lockdown, they read posts on social media leaking information that it might happen.

Her brother in Sichuan had asked her to come home straightaway, but she chose to stay to contain the spread of the virus.

"I didn't want to cause any trouble or be a burden for the government," she said. "I decided to stay. I thought the outbreak would pass quickly."

Her husband has not had any income for two months since construction work in the city halted. The family now depends on Ms Yang selling dietary supplements online. But it is not enough and they often eat only a plate of vegetables a day.

Supply chains have been disrupted. With Wuhan getting warmer, Ms Yang tried to buy summer clothes but was told they could not be delivered.

"We're still wearing snow boots and down coats," she said.

People are also trying to come home to Wuhan. A man who gave only his first name as Jason said he has been stranded in the southern city of Zhuhai, Guangdong province, for two months, afraid to come home.

"I don't want to die," he said. "I still have unaccomplished goals."

To ease tension, the provincial Hubei government said last month that those stranded during the outbreak can apply for government financial aid, and housing and medical help. But that has proven difficult to do.

As the number of new infected cases drops, many in China are getting ready to celebrate. But it is a victory that comes at great costs.

Ms Yang stressed repeatedly that the family is healthy and answered the call of the government. In turn, she wished the government could appreciate their sacrifice and help with their problems.

Her fondness towards her captive city has also vanished.

"I'm never coming back to Wuhan again," she said.