People wearing face masks walk on a street in Rome, Italy, on March 12, 2020.(Photo by Elisa Lingria/Xinhua)

Even though the COVID-19 outbreak has manifested visible signs of waning in many parts of China, Qingtian, a county in East China’s Zhejiang Province is under intense pressure to contain the virus spread as overseas returnees from Italy is catapulting the risk of infection. 

Earlier this month, eight Qingtian residents, recently returning from Italy, tested positive for COVID-19 infection. On March 6, local police launched an investigation against six among them for allegedly sneaking back to Qingtian without reporting their health status.

Xu Xiaolin, head of the Qingtian clansmen association in Italy, told the Global Times Wednesday even though overseas residents of Qingtian have been told to cautiously consider their return to China, some still tried to return to Qingtian via third countries.

“The challenge for local Qingtian people to fight the COVID-19 outbreak is not over yet,” Xu said.

The county under Wenzhou has an existing population of 350,000, while another 330,000 Qingtian residents are living overseas with nearly 100,000 residing in Italy.

As of Friday, 17,660 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Italy, with the death toll spiking to 1,266.

Xu said even though cities in northern Italy enforced a lockdown on March 7, local Chinese communities responded much earlier to mitigate infection risks. “Many had closed their restaurants, bars, and supermarkets at the end of February,” Xu said, who also suspended his restaurant business in Rome on March 2.

Most of the Qingtian residents wanting to return to China are the migrant workers. Those who already have an established business and family in Italy mostly choose to stay, Xu added.

About 600-700 Qingtian residents have returned from Italy and Spain recently to China, Xu estimated.

The local government has enforced strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus in Qingtian through imported cases. Starting from February 28, Qingtian authorities arranged service teams to shuttle its residents from airports in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Wenzhou. New arrivals in Qingtian are quarantined  for 14 days.

However, apart from the eight cases, four more Qingtian residents of a family living in Bergamo, Italy were confirmed with the novel coronavirus infection on March 10.

Xu said most people want to come back worrying about improper medical conditions. “Italy’s measures are not enough. Some Chinese people there are afraid they can’t receive proper treatment in Italy, so they chose to come back to China,” he said.