B efore the Chinese city of Wuhan was locked down to contain the deadly new coronavirus, more than 5 million people fled, but many chose to stay and wait out the storm, while some even fought to return home to care for isolated loved ones.

Sixty-one-year-old Yixian Chen was in Singapore visiting her newborn grandchild when the Chinese government announced that transport in and out of Wuhan, where Chen lives with her sister and elderly parents, would be suspended to quarantine the city of 11 million.