It's estimated there're some 180,000 Wenzhou residents living in Wuhan. Between Jan 23 and 27, an average of more than 3,600 people from Hubei, mostly from Wuhan, had entered Wenzhou daily, posing an "extremely high" risk of imported infection, according to Wenzhou's vice-governor.

The risk manifested itself. By Jan 31, the number of people infected with the disease had skyrocketed to 227 in Wenzhou. Unnerved by a possible deterioration in the situation, Bentley tried to reschedule his flight back to Hong Kong to Feb 1, but was unsuccessful as all flights had been fully booked.

He later learned that most flights between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland had been suspended. What followed next was the complete and indefinite lockdown of Yueqing on Feb 4.

Bentley considered contacting Hong Kong officials in Zhejiang to help put him on a flight back to Hong Kong, but eventually gave up the idea as he thought there was nothing they could do to help. He realized he had no choice but to settle down in Yueqing for the time being.

Besides cutting off all links with other cities on the mainland, Yueqing has imposed stringent measures to control the movements of people. The entire city has been divided into many sections with barriers, as security guards patrol key entry points to make sure no one crosses the barriers.

Residents are required to stay at home and barred from leaving or entering their homes without having their body temperature checked and getting registered. After completing the procedures, they're allowed to go to the supermarket once every two days.