Yairo Obel Valle, who had been unable to go home to Puerto Rico, because of a flight cancellation, said he feels fortunate that he could stay in China.

"I was disappointed (when I learned the cancellation)," recalled Valle, who has worked for a local school as an English teacher in Yinchuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region for three years.

"My family was not so nervous as much as I was and told me that it's fine to stay in China, just be careful and don't go out," he said.

A few weeks later, he felt lucky that his flight was canceled because he discovered that other countries were being devastated by the virus.

"You have to be home, and you need to be careful. Because maybe a young person can survive this, but your parents can't, your grandparents can't, a child can't," he told friends in Puerto Rico.

By March 16, the city's number of confirmed patients, suspected cases, and those with close contacts with confirmed patients all dwindled to zero with no deaths among the confirmed cases and no medical workers infected.

During that time, Valle said he stayed busy, making delicious food, playing Mahjong and shopping online.

Since the schools started remote education in the new semester, Valle is teaching students online too.

"We're not a school based online, so we have to adapt. It was a very complicated transition for us, for students and teachers. But I think at the moment we are handling it fairly well," he said.

(Video by Chen Shu)