Four hours a day in a virus-hit ward, 33-year-old Xie JingJing and her fellow nurses have decided to cut their hair short.

Pictures of the nurses cutting hair went viral on the internet.

"We didn't think that much," said Xie Jingjing, a nurse at Wuhan No.4 Hospital. "Longer hair increases chances of infection."

Two days before the Chinese Lunar New year, Xie's hospital was designated to receive feverish patients.

The surgical nurses were told of the new assignments in the coronavirus battle.

"We had no idea what to expect and prepared for the worst," Xie said, adding that short hair was better for wearing disposable caps and biohazard suits, as well as easier to wash.

Expecting a surging number of patients, the hospital arranged a dormitory for medical staff. Yet, this was far from enough. Many hotels in the city began providing medical workers free accommodation nearby.

Xie's husband also works in the same hospital and stays in the same hotel. But, they rarely see each other due to the different working hours.

"The most we see of each other is in the suit-changing area," Xie said. Sometimes, the couple cannot even recognize each other there.

Xie recalled that she didn't notice the eve of Chinese New Year until that evening when her colleague hinted it to her during dinner.

On that special night, an occasion for reunion among Chinese families, the couple didn't even have time to make a call to their seven-year-old son. They have quarantined themselves from the child for weeks.

Xie felt sorry for her son.

"After the battle, we want to take him out to play, and spend good time with him," she said in tears.

(Zhou Jiaxin, Zhu Shuying and Liu Jiaxin contributed to this story.)