A projection on the side of St. Thomas Hospital marks the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale, a pioneer of modern nursing, on Monday in London. Photo: AFP
Matt Raw Photo: Courtesy of Matt Raw
A British man, among 83 British passengers evacuated from Wuhan following the COVID-19 outbreak in late January, said he would increase personal quarantine measures after learning the latest lockdown policies in England.
"I would rather stay at home more and order all my groceries online," Matt Raw, now living in Cheshire with his family, told the Global Times a day after the British Prime Minister released the first, gradual steps towards relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown in England on Sunday evening.
In a ministerial broadcast, Boris Johnson encouraged people in England to exercise outdoors more often, and those unable to work from home to travel to their usual place of work. Johnson also looked ahead to possible school re-openings in June and hospitality businesses and public places resuming operations in July.
A further 627 people have been recorded as dying from COVID-19, bringing the death toll in the UK up to 32,692 on Tuesday.
Into the unknown
Raw used to live in Wuhan, China, with his wife, Ying, and his 75-year-old mother, Hazel, until he was evacuated on a flight back to the UK at 4:30 am on January 31.
"It was all very rushed and very last minute," Raw recalled the moment he decided to board a charted flight back to the UK, adding that there were only 10 minutes left for them to make a decision.
"We were the last people allowed through the checkpoint and we had to abandon our new car," Raw added, describing his experience as going into the great unknown.
Together with other passengers, they signed contracts after landing in the UK agreeing to spend 14 days in quarantine as a precautionary measure. They were given fully furnished rooms, food, and laundry facilities and had access to a team of medical staff who closely monitored their condition.
Luckily, all 83 patients tested negative and the experience was made as comfortable as possible by the "wonderful staff of the NHS."
Raw was happy when he completed the quarantine; what he didn't realize at the time was that the UK would have to face its own lockdown before long.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Matt Raw said he went "out of the pot, into the fire," and regretted his choice to leave China.
"I honestly think that we are at greater risk here in England," Raw said, adding that the Chinese government took remarkably quick action and now it seems everything is under control.
In the UK however, it took a while to implement a lockdown.
"Now as the steps are just starting to work, they're talking about relaxing policies," Raw said, noting that he was worried that the relaxation could potentially bring about a second wave, which would be destructive to the British economy.
"I'm very happy to be proved wrong," he added.
Too little, too lateRaw said he believes that people had a false sense of security when the crisis started in the UK, leading them far too complacent to lockdown.
"I think even more so as we've been in lockdown so long, and people are already breaking the rules," Raw said.
He explained that he was confused as people only have to look to China and Italy to see how quickly the virus can spread, but the UK didn't go to lockdown until March 24.
"They put all the right measures in place eventually, but it's like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted," Raw said.
Comparing his experiences in the two countries, Raw said everything happened very quickly in Wuhan, perhaps because the memory of the SARS was still quite clear, and the Chinese people had already chosen to wear masks and social distance when the crisis started to surface.
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We acted with the best information that we had, but clearly much of that information from my own government in the UK was wrong," he said, adding that he still wants to return to Wuhan when the time is right and considers it a "home from home."
"Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to return to my home in Wuhan. Similarly, I like my home here in England as well. Both countries are extremely different, but for me that's where my home is," Raw said, adding that while their original plan was to go back to Wuhan in four to six weeks, they didn't expect the virus to run rampant throughout the world. However, whether that is possible or not, is a partly different question, because Raw said he will not return to China until there is a vaccine making it safe for his mother, who has dementia, to travel.
Newspaper headline: In hindsight