A Chinese official said that it took at least 28 days for the new case to be successfully identified in order to determine whether the nCoV was successfully controlled.

"Regarding epidemiology, we must continue to monitor for at least the two longest incubation periods since the last case. In the case of nCoV, the total time will be 28 days," said Truong Dinh, deputy director. The director of the Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responded when asked when the Covid-19 epidemic was under control and that people could feel safe.

Ms. Zhang said that when no new cases were recorded after this time, "we can feel safe".

Ms. Zhang's remarks drew thousands of comments on China's Weibo social network, where many wondered when it would take to return to normal life. "Two months is enough to make 60% of businesses go bankrupt," a Weibo user commented.

Many Chinese are skeptical of Chung Nam Son's recommendation for a 10-14-day quarantine for suspected nCoV-infected people. Hubei Province announced on February 21 that a 70-year-old man was confirmed to be infected with nCoV after 27 days of incubation.

China today recorded 71 more deaths, 508 new nCoV infections, mostly in the heart of Hubei. Many Chinese provinces have not seen new cases in the past few days. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the epidemic in China reached its peak from January 23 to February 2 and the number of cases was decreasing.

The Covid-19 epidemic originated in Wuhan City, Hubei Province and has been reported in 35 countries and territories. To date, the epidemic has left nearly 2,700 people dead and 80,000 people infected with nCoV, of which more than 27,000 have recovered.