Peter Bentley, a Hong Kong permanent resident of British origin, said it is amazing how swiftly the Chinese government has been handling the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Bentley, who was on a business trip to the Chinese mainland, has been stuck for nearly a month in a small town in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province.

It was a tough decision to make for the government to shut down all businesses on the mainland, which was an "enormous financial sacrifice" to be made not just for the interests of the Chinese people, but also for the people of the whole world, he said.