Coronavirus Update: Latest Beijing Contamination News & Figures

Cases in Beijing and surrounding areas

advertisement

Cases in other provinces and regions

Word on the street

• Offices sprayed: People in Beijing report that many offices have decided to take off a day early, letting staff leave or continue their work from home. The common areas of many office buildings have been sprayed with disinfectant, and companies have been handing out masks and hand sanitizers to their staff,

• Line 5 rumor quashed: A rumor circulating on Tuesday described how Line 5 was closed after a regular commuter was diagnosed with the virus,  turned out to be just that – a rumor. It turns out that while person in question – an intern at a gaming company – was indeed ill, he had been cleared of having the Wuhan coronavirus.

• Now boarding, Wuhan to Beijing: In what may turn out to be a bad omen for Beijing, flight data presented by this Chinese-language WeChat account shows that the #1 destination by far for passengers flying out of Wuhan, the presumed source of the virus, is Beijing. Nearly 60,000 inbound passengers are estimated to land between Dec 30 and Jan 20.

• Bats, Man: China Daily reported on Tuesday that the virus may have originated from bats, though they also suggested there may be an "intermediary" species that lead to the virus infecting humans.

• Lose your lunch: The suspected origin of the outbreak has been traced to the Wuhan Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which despite its name, also allegedly dabbles in the meat camels, civets, kangaroo, and scorpion. This Chinese-language WeChat post has some harrowing photos reportedly from the market that will have you saying, "Well, now this all makes sense..."

• CDC on the case: The US-based Centers for Disease Control has set up a page to follow the virus, which currently lacks an easy-to-use nickname like SARS and is being referred to as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV."

You can keep your friends and family up to date by sharing this graphic.
It will direct them back to the updated blog:

Images: CNN, the Beijinger