HANGZHOU, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Zhao Puzhou, a native of east China's Zhejiang Province, recently bought a mask factory in Cambodia. When the factory, with a planned daily production capacity of 100,000 masks, goes into operation, the masks, in next to no time, will be sent back to China at a cost price of 0.3 yuan (4.3 U.S. cents) each.

Masks are even more sought after than gold during this year's Spring Festival holiday, as China is in a battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak.

By Sunday, a total of 17,205 confirmed cases of the virus infection had been reported on the Chinese mainland with 361 fatalities, according to China's National Health Commission.

"As soon as I learned about the epidemic in China, I started to think about how I could do my part to help," said the 45-year-old, also chairman of the Cambodia-Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce.

Instead of looking for masks from overseas, Zhao chose to take over a plant for a constant supply of quality masks.

"I will produce masks in accordance with Chinese standards," Zhao said. "It's a pity that the factory isn't big enough to produce more."

Zhao is among tens of thousands of overseas Chinese that have thrown themselves into China's fight against the novel coronavirus, despite living thousands of miles away. The sudden surge in demand for medical supplies, as well as the Lunar New Year holiday, a traditional shutdown period for most plants in China, have resulted in a shortage in epidemic control materials for hospitals.

CHINT, a global smart energy solution provider headquartered in Zhejiang, is also searching high and low for hazmat suits and masks through its branch offices, agencies and business partners abroad.

As of Feb. 1, the company has ordered 2 million sets of medical supplies globally, of which 293,000 sets have already arrived in China. Supplies from Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Spain will also be sent to the frontline before long.

Lei Hengjie, regional manager of CHINT in southern Africa, said it usually "takes several days in Africa to make a transaction," but in order to collect the medical necessities as soon as possible, their business partners "took risks bringing huge amounts of cash and waiting at the door of the medical companies before they opened."

"All our business partners and clients are trying hard to help," Lei added.

The whole country has been mobilized. A tour group of 70-plus people helped deliver nearly two tonnes of epidemic control materials to China from Moscow.

On the second day of the Spring Festival holiday, Ye Wangyong, head of a Chinese youth federation in Brazil, flew to Sao Paulo and ordered 100,000 masks, 10,000 hazmat suits and 10,000 pairs of protective glasses.

"People helped us transport these medical materials for free," said Ye.

"Soon after we learned of the situation, we bought some medical supplies and sent them to Wuhan," said Ke Haixiao, president of the China-Europe Economic and Cultural Development Research Center. "And since we're now familiar with the transportation, more people came to us to help deliver packages, so we split them into several teams."

The team in Spain, for instance, even drove over 700 km looking for a mask factory in the countryside.

"No delay is allowed in the fight against the virus," said Ke. "We overseas Chinese are duty-bound to fight with our motherland."

Data from the Zhejiang Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese showed that overseas Chinese and their relatives from Zhejiang alone have donated over 130 million yuan and medical materials worth 60 million yuan as of Feb. 2.

Zhu Shenghua, a Wenzhou businesswoman in Rome, even appeared on a local television program to introduce China's epidemic control and prevention measures to local residents.

"Whether it's a donation, a package, or even advice, we overseas Chinese want to do our share for our home country," said Zhu.