I had a very unusual Sunday lunch. There I was, scarfing down half a bag of rusks at my tiny kitchen table, stopping only to breathe and to ask a question here and there.  

Usually,  it would have been a friend sitting across from me for lunch. This time, it was just me, my recorder, and a voice coming from a bluetooth speaker.

The voice belongs to a South African student who has been in quarantine in Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak since the beginning of January.

This person was fascinating company.  I spoke to him for nearly two hours, in which he detailed the moments of stress, boredom, and humour he's experienced locked up in his dormitory room. 

First, he told me about a friend of his, let's call her Olivia, who could not handle being all by herself as more of her friends disappeared to hospitals. She cracked. 

Then, he revealed the obsessive thoughts he's been having about a pen, of all things. Read more about that here in our second diary entry from inside lockdown, called #QuarantineChronicles. 

Happy reading,  
Joan van Dyk
Senior health journalist 
joanv@bhekisisa.org