I flew from UK to Australia via Hong Kong. As I said before, I was overcome by a terrible cold and spent much of that 12 hours hiding under a blanket. As we landed in Hong Kong, I made a plan to find a pharmacy as quickly as possible so I could buy cold and flu tablets.

‘Drugs! Give me drugs!’ I thought.

Three red-suited Hong Kong airport staff members welcomed passengers walking off the departure ramp, while another two staff members stood behind some equipment. As people walked by a video camera, I saw multi-coloured human shapes cross a TV monitor. It was a body temperature monitor, designed to detect people with fevers. Fever is one of the first signs of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. As I watched people go up to the camera, most of the body temperature maps were in cool blue, green and yellow colours.

With trepidation, I watched my own thermal image show up on the screen. There it was — my head was definitely bright red. Surely someone would soon tackle me and take me to quarantine?

However, the two attendants were talking to each other, and barely glanced at the screen. I was safe.