Taiyuan city, capital of Shanxi province, launched a psychological aid platform on Feb 4 -- to carry out psychological health care service for the public during the current pneumonia outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus, officials said.

With the Shanxi Chuanzhi Public Welfare Development Center providing technical support, the platform mainly offers the one-on-one services of psychological counseling, decompression support and family relationship mediation during the current special period.

Officials said that people can follow the official WeChat account of the Taiyuan Social Work Service Center called Voluntary Service in Taiyuan (志愿太原). They can send a message with the keywords of "psychological assistance" to initiate a service application.

Corresponding services will be provided by professional volunteers, comprising psychological counselors, psychotherapists and psychiatrists, through WeChat.

At present, the first 50 psychological counselors have been on duty at the platform. They've provided psychological assistance to medical workers, on-duty workers, community workers and residents.

For those who cannot use the internet for online help or who cannot completely solve their problems through online assistance, people can call the 24-hour psychological assistance hotlines for help on: 13903512481 and 0351-7565333.