As the number of new coronavirus cases drops and life-or-death fears subside for many Chinese, the country is beginning to confront a new challenge—the psychological strain of hundreds of millions of lives overturned by the government’s battle against the illness.

Liu Xiaoxian, a 25-year-old television producer from Wuhan, the center of the epidemic, is tormented by guilt at being separated for more than a month from her parents. They developed coughs after going out maskless to shop for groceries not far from the market where some experts believe the outbreak began.

Ms. Liu had already canceled plans to fly from Beijing on Jan. 22 to join her parents for the Lunar New Year holiday, as rumors began circulating of a virus outbreak in her hometown. The next day, authorities abruptly locked down the city of 11 million people.

Canceling the ticket “was the right decision, but I’m not happy at all,” says Ms. Liu, who lies awake at night worrying for her parents. During the day, she struggles to focus on work, consumed with anxiety. “I feel like I separated myself from all this.”

China’s government has restricted travel, mandated lengthy self-quarantines and locked down more than a dozen cities in an aggressive campaign to contain the spread of a contagious virus that has infected more than 80,000 people and killed at least 2,900 in mainland China.