A Beijing Lockdown Diary

‘Omicron” first appeared in my diary on November 29, 2021, five days after the COVID-19 variant was first detected in South Africa. It was said to be more transmissible than Delta and several cases had been confirmed in Hong Kong within days. Zhong Nanshan, China’s top respiratory expert, said back then it was too soon to assess Omicron’s full impact. “How will it affect our lives? Will it enter my community?” I wrote, sitting in my apartment in the east part of China’s capital on that late autumn day.

Five months later, I got my answer: Omicron has