Earlier this month Chinese truck driver Dong Zhigang finished a job in the coastal city of Nantong and began what should have been a four-hour journey north to his home village in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. On Friday, nine sticky days in his cab later, he still had not made it home.

Like many Chinese truckers, Dong, 30, had fallen victim to some of the country's recent hardline anti-Covid-19 measures and disruption as local authorities scramble to maintain China's zero-Covid-19 policy.

He got as far as a highway exit leading to his village before he was told by officials that to enter he would need to do 14 days of centralised quarantine costing at least 240 RMB per day followed by a further seven days of home quarantine.

"We could not afford this...