Coronavirus: British mother lifts lid on China’s lockdown, from forced quarantine for the healthy to daily temperature checks

Western countries may now face same severe restrictions if they want to beat Covid-19, Sally Spika warns Colin Drury

Sally and Ralf Spika in forced issolation in Wuxi, China (Sally Spika)

It was when government officials dressed in hazmat suits turned up at her door and demanded to take her temperature that Sally Spika truly realised the all-encompassing scope of China’s battle against coronavirus.

The 56-year-old Brit has been living in the eastern city of Wuxi since 2009 where she runs a restaurant with husband Ralf.

As the 3.5-million-person metropolis was shut down from January, the couple, along with 25-year-old daughter Savanna, watched on, astonished, as perhaps the largest containment exercise in human history was implemented around them.