Where do you come from? Corona virus panic for city family based in China Retired architect and Harn- ham resident Greg Condliffe has concerns about his family trapped in China as a result of the Corona virus.
His eldest son Otto lives in Shanghai with his Chinese wife Lily and Greg’s grandson James. Otto works for the Sino-British College.
Greg told New Valley News: “I was about to go to a Chinese New Year Party – incidentally the year of the rat – when a call came in from Shanghai. My son was anxious and thought the situation was far worse than was being admitted.
Shut down
“They are, however, at least 1,000 miles from Wuhan, but China has a big network of internal flights. The question he asked was not unexpected; ‘Could they come and stay until all was clear?’
“So, here in Salisbury, we prepared for that eventuality. A phone call two days later was not optimistic about any available flights as China had shut down. Much of the rumour was panic and the situation in Shanghai was quiet but normal.
“There were cases reported and a death was attributed to an elderly person with other complications. The family still had not returned from the Chinese family home in Zhezhang province some 400 miles away.
Sealed off
“The Chinese part of the family were fine and there were no cases there, but locals had the town sealed off. Otto came back early and during the journey was checked twice for details of where he had come from and to have his temperature checked.
“He explained they may even have had a mild version of coronavirus, since bad flu symptoms were not diagnosed. General practice is not something I am aware of in China,” ’said Greg.
“Lily and James have returned to Shanghai where stricter controls were put in place, and as they have come from a province next to Hubei, they are quarantined for 14 days with Otto allowed to go out shopping once every two days. Shanghai is very quiet.
Elderly perish
“It does appear the elderly are perishing but the young and fit are surviving, he added.
Meanwhile, social media and the BBC are independent monitors and his family – thanks to a Chinese official (“the consulate is useless,” Greg said) – have all the papers to be able to leave, should matters worsen.
“My GP practice has advised that if they do come and show flu symptoms, they will be quarantined (by law). As with Novichok, it will be just like that, as people not from Salisbury quickly moved away from you once you responded to their question: ‘Where do you come from?’