Denis Staunton: When they asked on the third day of Beijing quarantine if everything was alright, I said I'd love some coffee

The ambulance door closed and the driver, wearing full-length hazmat protective clothing, gave me a cheerful thumbs up before we drove off from a quarantine centre near the Beijing's international airport and into the city centre. After a week in quarantine, I was moving into a flat for three more days of self-isolation and the neighbourhood authorities decided that I should be moved by ambulance. I was not ill and had no need of the medical gadgets all around me, the stretcher bed was loaded with suitcases and a taxi would have served just as well but under China's "dynamic…