Written from Shanghai with a global perspective, By Degrees bears witness to the surreality and devastation of day-to-day life in the midst of a pandemic. Ghastly football matches, Skype funerals, and innumerable candles lit for the dead are recorded with disbelief, with horror, and with heart-rending empathy.

David Tait's books include Self-Portrait with The Happiness, shortlisted for The Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and recipient of an Eric Gregory Award, and The AQI, which was shortlisted for The Ledbury Forte Prize. He lives in Shanghai, where he works as a teacher trainer.