Life in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged, is slowly returning to normal as the government relaxes a more than two-month-old lockdown that cut the city off from the world and kept most of its 11 million residents at home.

Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, was once the epicentre of the now global pandemic and was subjected to the strictest curbs on movement and business.

Reuters asked several Wuhan residents to share their experiences with the millions of people across the globe now in some form of lockdown or isolation.

Their advice? Stay united, stay indoors and "add oil", a Chinese saying that means stay strong.

"In the beginning, I was quite scared because my job involves meeting lots of people, so I went home and quarantined myself," says Mu Zi, a taxi driver.

"After the government measures to control the epidemic started to work in February, I became more relaxed and in a better mood. And since my housing compound has had no cases, they've started allowing us to go out.

"The situation overseas, especially in Italy, really makes my heart ache. I hope that overseas coronavirus patients will be able to overcome this."

Ding fan, 27, said, "In the beginning I was pretty scared, because the week after the lockdown was when the infections in Wuhan peaked, and the numbers published every day made me very sad.

"We live in the same world, and we need to work hard together to defeat this illness. Everyone should go out less, stay at home to read books, watch television and play games with the family."