Mark Andrews recalls how he discovered the virus people talked about on the news was no laughing matter

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March 9, 2020. Sat in my local, having just watched Aston Villa get trounced 4-0 by Leicester City, I joked to my brother about a light cold I developed over the weekend. He responded by passing me a pint of beer at arm's length, quipping that he didn't want this deadly virus they kept talking about on the news.

Such scenes were probably being played out in pubs all over the country. Every news bulletin seemed to be dominated by reports about this mysterious illness emerging from China, but most of us thought we had seen it all before. The previous 20 years had seen similar scares about bird flu, swine flu, and the Sars virus, all of which we were told would bring the western world to a standstill. For those affected, the impact was devastating, but for most people life went on as normal.

Three days later, a Thursday, Boris Johnson appeared on television, instructing anyone with a 'new, persistent cough or temperature' to self-isolate for one week. But it all sounded a bit vague and woolly. If everyone followed his advice to the letter, the country would grind to a standstill, wouldn't it? Besides, how can a cough be both 'new' and 'persistent'? Sure, I had been coughing for a few days, but I looked and felt perfectly healthy. It would look a bit lame if I rang in sick with touch of the........

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