How living through the siege of Sarajevo prepared me for coronavirus

Ruins of the Bosnian War in the city centre of Sarajevo can still been seen in May 2012. — Wikimedia Commons

I started my career as a foreign correspondent in the 1990s, reporting and living for months on end in Sarajevo, a relatively modern European city subjected to an almost medieval siege as it was encircled, isolated and bombarded.

The siege of Sarajevo lasted for three years. By the time it was over, 14,000 people were dead – about 2% of the city’s population.