North East family who fled Wuhan in 2020 unable to return

Jeff, Sindy and Jasmine Siddle had been in Wuhan for Chinese New Year when it went into lockdown

A family who fled Wuhan as it was gripped by the emerging Covid-19 pandemic two years ago have not been able to return to see relatives.

Jeff, Sindy and Jasmine Siddle, from Prudhoe, Northumberland, were evacuated from the Chinese city in February 2020.

They "are desperate" to go back and visit their family but say quarantine rules make a short trip "impossible".

Mr Siddle said missing Chinese New Year celebrations for a second consecutive year had left them "really sad".

The family had travelled to Wuhan in 2020 to spend the national holiday with relatives, but faced being split up because Mrs Siddle was initially not allowed to leave China.

They were eventually flown back to the UK but had to spend weeks in quarantine.

'Unviable'

"We have never been back since the evacuation, even though we obviously really want to," Mr Siddle said.

"We had Chinese New Year last year and today is Chinese New Year's Eve, which is a bit like Christmas over here and we would normally be there.

"Travelling there is extremely difficult and there have been no direct flights from the UK to China since early on in the pandemic.

"Even if you wanted to go via another country then you have to quarantine after you arrive in China.

"It's not just that, if we arrived in Shanghai and then wanted to travel to my parents-in-law's local area then there's another 14-day quarantine there.

"It's unviable to go for a two-week visit, you'd need six weeks so it's just impossible.

Speaking two years on from the first confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, Mr Siddle is content with his decision to return to the UK when he did, although he accepts that with hindsight he may have fared better in China.

"We felt like we'd escaped it in China but we actually stepped straight into the same situation when we arrived here within days," he said.

"We got back and we felt relief and thought that was the end of the situation. But little did we know that was the tip of the iceberg and the stark reality was that we were starting into a much bigger event.

"We did question if we would have been better staying over there in the end because they haven't had the same level of Covid over there that we've had here," he said.

"We all got it in October, despite being extremely careful. We weren't seriously ill but it was ironic that having fled China, we were infected back here.

"I don't know anyone in my Chinese family or friends over there that've had it, whereas here it's so common."

Last year authorities in Wuhan started to test its entire population, after a handful of positive coronavirus cases were detected there, they were the first infections in more than a year.