Kayleigh Smuts, a young English teacher from Cape Town who has a contract in Shanghai, told TimesLIVE, “I feel relieved to be home, honestly.

“I thought we would take our masks off to eat on the plane but people didn’t. Everyone just wants to get out of there. I am so glad to be back home. You get screened if you go to any public place. It is not fun.”

She said Shanghai’s lockdown wasn’t as extensive as at other places but, even so, they felt as if they were being monitored wherever they went.

“If you have to stay indoors, then there is no point in being there,” she said, adding that she and the other teachers from Cape Town were due to return to China in February but would have to monitor the situation.

“We have been watching and monitoring the outbreak every day,” said passenger Dicky Julius, who also arrived in Cape Town on Wednesday. “China is on high alert. We can attest to that - they are not taking it as a joke. Every time we go out or come back, our temperature is taken. But on the international flights you see people aren’t taking it seriously enough. That is my concern.”

Travelling with him was Elrick Julius. Still wearing his mask, he told TimesLIVE, “I am just back from Beijing. That virus - dis woes, mense. It is deadly, not a word of a lie, people are dying like flies. If you go there, protect yourself and keep an eye on the facts and figures.”