Munyaradzi Gurure, a Zimbabwean student provides help as a volunteer at Yulin Railway Station in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Photo: Courtesy of Sina Weibo.

Most international students in China chose to return to their motherlands due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, but some chose to stay in China, hoping to offer their help.

David Kolosov, an international student from Russia who just finished his master's degree at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that he has kept staying at his rented house and did not see anyone for 10 days.

"I have followed the news about the novel coronavirus for a long time, and I realized the situation would be very serious, so I bought a lot of instant noodles and semi-finished products as well as disinfectant in advance," he said.

Kolosov added that he likes staying at home and watching TV dramas and practicing Chinese calligraphy. He also made a video of his calligraphy combining two Chinese characters meaning blessing and mask and encouraging Wuhan in the fight against the virus.

"Wearing a mask and enjoying a safe Chinese New Year. Wuhan, fighting," he said on the video under the background of his calligraphy.

Julia Aughenbaugh, an exchange student from the US studying in the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, told the Global Times on Tuesday she felt so bad for the ones who have lost family members during the crisis. 

"I feel for the families who are directly impacted, they are the people we need to be thinking about right now," she said. 

Both Aughenbaugh and Kolosov mentioned that most of their foreign friends have gone back to their own countries after the outbreak of the coronavirus. 

According to reports, Munyaradzi Gurure, a Zimbabwean student at Guangxi University of Finance and Economics decided to stay in China and provide help as a volunteer at Yulin Railway Station in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"I walk around with the mask and gloves on, helping other people, making sure they are safe, but also keeping my distance, so I won't be infected," Gurure said. "I just want to do what I can to help prevent the spread of the infection; that's why I volunteered," he added.