Wuhan: The outbreak of Coronavirus and the movie, “Contagion” have remarkable similarities.
The story of the movie is based on Pandemic that spreads from animals to people in Hong Kong resulting in the death of millions worldwide.
How virus spread in the movie
Returning from a Hong Kong business trip, AIMM employee Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) appears to have contracted a cold during her trip. Beth’s condition worsens and two days later she collapses with severe seizures.
Her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon), rushes her to the hospital, but she dies of an unknown cause.
In a flashback, the source of the virus is revealed: an AIMM bulldozer clears some jungle and disturbs a bat, which takes food from a banana tree. The bat flies over a pigpen, dropping a chunk of banana, which is then eaten by a piglet.
A chef from the Macau casino buys the piglet. As he handles the carcass in the kitchen, he does not wash his hands when called to meet a customer – Beth Emhoff. The chef shakes hands with Beth, giving her the mix of bat and pig viruses, making her patient zero.
It may be mentioned that the movie has now become one of the most popular films on iTunes after the outbreak of Wuhan coronavirus.
How virus spread in Wuhan, other places worldwide
It is believed that bushmeat is responsible for the spread of the virus in the Wuhan City of China.
Transmission of the virus from one person to another takes place through breathing, human-to-human contact, etc.
As many as 170 people have died of the virus, while around 7,700 cases have been registered in China alone. There are now 98 cases in 18 countries outside of China.
Health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a global pandemic as the virus continues to spread, with cases reported in Australia, France, the US and several Asian countries besides China.
In Hyderabad too, authorities set up separate wards to treat suspected coronavirus cases.