Late last month, Li decided to donate his surplus pills and also called on others with HIV to follow suit. As a result, people throughout the country began to send him supplies.

There was a rapid response, he said. "I posted the message on Jan 25, and within a few days I had received more than 40 bottles of Kaletra pills from people with HIV to help battle the outbreak."

One netizen, who replied anonymously to Li's request, said: "I have four extra bottles of Kaletra. I've been on anti-HIV medication for 10 years. I am in good health … you don't have to worry about me. I can donate these four bottles."

Another, using the name "Head Wolf", said, "If it were the case that people with HIV are resistant to the novel coronavirus, I would be the first to volunteer to work on the front-line, in gratitude for the care I've received from the nation as a patient with HIV."

Li said:"Because Kaletra has been used solely to treat HIV, it has not been accessible for physicians in general hospitals. So even if doctors in Wuhan wanted to prescribe it for patients with this form of pneumonia, they often couldn't get any."

Some patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia soon approached Li asking for pills. "I asked them to show their diagnosis and ID, and told them about the potential risks and side effects, before sending the pills to them," he said.

A vlogger in Wuhan, using the name "Spider Monkey Bread", volunteered to drive around the city and deliver pills to patients, and this proved more efficient than using direct mail. In less than a week, they managed to deliver enough pills to treat 90 patients, including medical workers.

"We heard that the temperature of one patient dropped soon after Kaletra was administered," Li said.

According to an updated treatment protocol issued on Feb 5, no antiviral medication had proved effective to treat novel coronavirus pneumonia. The protocol also drew attention to the possible side effects of Kaletra, such as gastrointestinal reaction and impaired liver function.

However, Li continued to receive a flood of requests for the pills, as some medical workers believed that Kaletra had a positive effect on patients in a non-critical condition.

He and some close friends also bought supplies of Kaletra from an Indian pharmaceutical company, brought them to China and distributed them among patients. "A patent has long been overdue for Kaletra, but because of the high cost and low profit, you can't count on the drug being manufactured quickly in China," he said.

On the night of Feb 12, Li posted a chart on his Sina Weibo account, listing feedback from more than 60 patients taking his donated medicine. Many reported "alleviated symptoms", "fever brought down", but in a few cases patients had to stop taking the pills because of diarrhea.