‘You and your conspiracy theories,’ I chided gently, knowing well how anxious he already was. A doctor himself, he had lost both parents to the virus in the last few weeks. And his wife had now tested positive. My cousin needed to rant, so I let him.

‘You have no idea what the neighbours are up to,’ he said. ‘They have publicly announced on their national news, they are now the world leaders of Space Technology and Biological Warfare. Did you not see those disgusting images posted by the Chinese Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission?’

‘Yes, I have,’ I muttered, changing the subject to something more palatable.

Those images, continued to do the rounds on social media. Originally posted by an employee of the above mentioned CCPLAC, it had two pictures adjacent to each other. The first was a space rocket taking off, and the second, a raging cremation pyre. The caption read, ‘How we light a fire in China, and how they light a fire in India.’