Zhejiang province this week lowered its Covid-19 warning level because measures to curb nCoV proved effective, but they faced new concerns.

Once the most heavily affected province outside of Hubei, Zhejiang, China's manufacturing and export center, imposed a "circle of control" with about 30 million people. The province did not register any new cases for nine days until Wang, a 31-year-old waitress working in the city of Bergamo, northern Italy, returned home to Thanh Dien district, west of Wenzhou city.

She had a cough, headache and diarrhea about a week before the flight, but she still boarded a plane in Milan, transited in Moscow and then returned to Shanghai. Wang was quarantined as soon as he returned to China. Tests on 1/3 showed that she was positive for nCoV. 7 of her other colleagues in the suspect area.

This is China's new challenge in the fight against nCoV.

China has almost curbed Covid-19 in the country, with fewer than 100 new cases per day, almost all in Hubei. But now they face the risk of "importing" nCoV when the epidemic is booming in other countries.

China thinks that once it gets under control of Covid-19, the epidemic will cease, said Truong Van Hoanh, director of the infectious department at Shanghai Shanshan Hospital. But now there are more cases of new infections abroad than in China.

"This is a bad and very worrying sign," Zhang said. "This situation will create difficulties for the Chinese anti-epidemic work."

As of 3/3, 75 people from abroad entering China were positive for nCoV. Chinese officials are taking steps to prevent people from new hot spots like South Korea, Iran, northern Italy and Japan from bringing back the epidemic.

Guangdong and Shanghai stipulate that all people from seriously affected countries must be isolated for 14 days. Beijing, which has a 14-day quarantine rule for all people from outside the capital, also highlighted four overseas hotspots in a report this week. Two of the three newly confirmed cases in Beijing on March 3 were from Iran and Italy.

Zhejiang is at great risk of "importing" nCoV from Italy because the Wenzhou region has a historical trade link with Italy, which has recorded more than 3,800 cases and nearly 150 deaths. About 200,000 Chinese from Wenzhou and Qing Dien live in Italy, most of them working in the restaurant business.

In the beginning of the outbreak, Chinese citizens living in Italy donated 10,000 masks, 300 protective clothing and 240 pairs of protective goggles for Wenzhou residents. Now, residents of Wenzhou in return, the Wenzhou Eyeglasses Industry Association sent safety glasses to Italy this week.

Similarly, Ningxia province in western China, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslims, Muslims, is at high risk of "importing" nCoV from Iran. Last week, two people returned to Ningxia from Iran infected with nCoV and spread the infection to two others

Chinese officials are in a dilemma. When a new outbreak broke out in Wuhan in December 2019, China's Foreign Ministry criticized the United States for "overreacting" and "frightening" when Washington warned citizens not to go to China and take staff away. Consulate in Wuhan.

Now Zhejiang officials are recommending that citizens abroad minimize travel. Staying at home "is the best way to protect yourself," the Qing Tian government wrote in a statement to overseas Chinese.

"For the sake and health of the family, strengthen precautions, make careful decisions about travel plans and minimize travel," they posted on WeChat.

However, the central government encourages overseas Chinese to return home, saying that they attach great importance to the health of Chinese citizens in countries such as South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran. "If the situation in those countries worsens, Chinese authorities will take more measures to bring them back to China," said Ai Ai, head of the Consular Department at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Concerned that citizens infected with nCoV abroad, China began to evacuate people from the outbreak. Two airplanes flew from Hangzhou to Milan this week, China also sent two aircraft to Iran to pick up citizens because direct commercial flights were canceled. Officials prioritize returning students trapped in the holy city of Qom, the rest being workers or businessmen.

"90% of Chinese people I know in Iran want to go home right now," said a Chinese man named Lao Qi who lives in Tehran. "They are worried about an increasingly serious epidemic in Iran, they are concerned that the local government lacks strong measures to put out the epidemic and that the Iranian public lacks a sense of prevention," he said.