Reporting in Wuhan: 'I thought Sars wouldn't be repeated, this was worse'

The Guardian's Beijing bureau chief reflects on four months of risk and emotion at the heart of the Covid-19 epidemic

On 6 January, I wrote a short memo to our newsdesk: "Something we probably want to keep an eye on are these severe viral pneumonia cases that have been racking up (now 44) in Wuhan - China has said that it is not Sars."

Since then, I have been reporting on coronavirus from Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and most recently Wuhan. I could not have known then how my life would soon be consumed by this story. I have spent the four months since constantly weighing the risks to my family, my colleagues and the people we interviewed against my responsibility as a journalist.