I avoided Covid in Hong Kong. Now back in the UK, my luck has finally run out – and it’s not fun at all
- After three years avoiding Covid-19 in Hong Kong and then not catching it in over a year back in the UK, I began to think I was immune. Now, reality has dawned
- The virus has barely been a subject of conversation since returning to Britain, but concerns about it are beginning to emerge again
My last three years in Hong Kong were spent trying to avoid catching Covid-19 or, at least, being carted off to the Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre, otherwise known as Stalag PB.
Much to my surprise and largely thanks to the many limitations on daily life we all had to endure, I succeeded. But I expected to catch the virus immediately on my return to Britain in August 2022, where I went from zero-Covid to zero-restrictions.
Somehow, my luck held. Living in the countryside must have helped. But I did make regular forays into London. I began to believe I was immune.
Now, the inevitable has happened. After three years of fearing, cursing and avoiding Covid-19, I have caught it. Reality has dawned.
I woke up one morning and couldn’t face getting out of bed. Everything ached. I had shivers, a sore throat and a cough.
Most people here don’t bother to get tested. Free tests are no longer available. A lateral flow test costs £2 (US$2.40). So people generally soldier on, telling themselves they have a cold. This, of course, is a good way of spreading the virus. Unlike in Hong Kong, hardly anyone wears a mask.
But old Hong Kong habits die hard. I had a lateral flow test to hand but I had to look on the internet to remind myself what to do. In the past, I had happily watched a single red line appear. This time there were two. My first positive test.
27 hours, 4 suicide attempts: mental health effects of Hong Kong quarantine
Covid symptoms vary enormously. Whichever variant I have completely knocked me out for three days. Not at all like having a cold. At the time of writing, on day six, I feel better but far from recovered. My cough is getting worse.
The National Health Service website says most people recover completely within 12 weeks. I hope it will not take me that long. I called a doctor for reassurance, which he provided. Covid-19, he said, was usually not much of a problem these days.
The virus has barely been a subject of conversation since returning to Britain. But concerns about it are beginning to emerge again. A new variant caused an outbreak at a care home. Hospital admissions are on the rise, albeit from a low base. The roll out of the latest booster jab, available only to those aged 65 and over and other vulnerable groups, was brought forward.
Suffering Covid symptoms is bad enough, but the experience has also triggered grim memories of the gloomy world we used to inhabit, with its targeted lockdowns, mandatory testing, quarantine hotels and border closures. Let us hope those days never return.
In the meantime, my experience reminds me that Covid-19 may be forgotten, but it has not gone away.
