When the COVID-19 epidemic raged around the world, I had the opportunity to record the experience from a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic in London’s Chinatown from January to March 2020. The TCM clinic was aware of the risk of the virus long before any announcement from the British government. In the early days, there was high demand and limited production of masks in China, but similar effects were soon felt by Chinese communities in many countries. In response to this purchasing wave, staff of the TCM clinic bought masks online to sell in the clinic, and the price of masks and bundles -including masks with other products, such as hand sanitisers-were raised. Another wave happened when Chinese people wished to travel before suspension of flights from the UK to China, with the TCM clinic becoming a one-stop shop for every type of protective product.
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