"Any city with imported cases of the virus faces high risk as the transmission capability of the virus is fairly strong – much stronger than the SARS virus – as seen from what has happened in Wuhan, where the number of confirmed cases soared to around 48,000 after the first patients were identified in December," said Zhang, who is also the director of the department of infectious diseases at Shanghai Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University.

To date, the novel coronavirus has infected people in more than 40 countries and regions. Earlier this week, at least 11 towns in northern Italy were locked down, with residents told to isolate themselves at home, after the number of confirmed cases surged within a few days.

Zhang suggested that all foreign countries and regions with imported cases must take precautionary measures "to run ahead of the spread of the virus" and prevent a large-scale spread among the local community.

"When there's a considerable number of secondary and tertiary infection cases or those with unknown origins in a city, the situation will become dangerous as it's difficult to conduct tracing. Plus, very few countries can adopt a containment strategy that is as aggressive as China's," he said.