"We went to a big rugby dinner and we’d just arrived from Hong Kong and everyone was looking a bit askance at us - then it turned out for the first year that we weren’t the risk at all, it was the other way around. We were prepared, we had masks and hand sanitiser and everything, but they were uncomfortable.”

Yet for the following 18 months, while Scotland moved in and out of strict lockdowns, Hong Kong remained almost Covid-free.

Now, the pandemic has finally hit. It was estimated this week that half of Hong Kong has had Covid in the past few weeks, with the Omicron variant spreading rapidly among citizens, many of whom are not vaccinated. The sudden rise in cases has resulted in huge numbers of hospitalisations and deaths. The authorities have reported that they are running out of coffins, while morgues are overwhelmed.

A woman stands on an empty street usually packed with shoppers in Causeway Bay, a famous shopping district in Hong Kong

Bars have been entirely closed in the city, while restaurants must shut at 6pm, with a maximum of two people per table allowed. Residents say police tape has closed off playparks, while sports facilities have been shuttered and swimming pools drained.

Mr Bruce, director of a consultancy company and chair of the Scottish business group of the British Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong, has not been able to return home to Scotland to visit his sister in Dumfries since the pandemic began, due to stringent isolation rules when he returns. While Hong Kongers are allowed out of the country, they have to quarantine for weeks on their return in pricey quarantine hotels.

Mr Bruce, originally from the Isle of Arran, said frustration is growing over the region’s preparation for the wave.

"There was concern that at one point everyone who tested positive would have to stay in medical facilities, but the mathematics soon played out,” he says.

An empty coffin is moved to a hearse in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong.

In the earlier part of the pandemic, anyone who tested positive for Covid – as well as their close contacts, whether they tested positive or not – were held in state quarantine facilities.

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"It’s frustrating, because we bought ourselves so much time for the first 18 months, but then we didn’t vaccinate. I know people over 80 where their doctor told them not to bother getting vaccinated because there is no Covid in Hong Kong. As a result, the vaccination rates in over 80s was very low, though it has increased a lot in recent weeks.”

He adds: “I can’t really complain too much, because it was absolutely fine here for 15 months when it was hell in Britain.”

Police tape on playparks and restaurant tables for two: Scots in Hong Kong describe the city’s first full Covid lockdown