Empty jars to plastic sheets, people are using weird things as protection against coronavirus

Chinese social media platforms showed unique ways people tried to protect themselves amid the Chinese New Year celebration, where many have been even locked in their own homes for quarantine -- with some even playing card games wearing masks and putting their head inside plastic bag.

By: Trends Desk

New Delhi | January 30, 2020 03:12 PM IST

3 min read

Photos of people using empty water jars, helmets and plastic bags as protection are doing the rounds on social media.

As the coronavirus spreads rapidly in China and across the world (with the first case confirmed in India on Thursday), photos are emerging on social media of people taking unusual measures to protect themselves. Photos of people at different locations using everyday items like empty water jars and plastic sheets to cover themselves are doing the rounds of social media.

Photos were posted of a group of passengers at an airport with plastic sheets over their heads. There is one photo of a woman covered in a plastic sheet at a departmental store, with a protective layer of plastic over the goods as well.

One man on a flight from Shanghai to Perth was photographed wearing a helmet as protection. Multiple airlines have reduced or suspended flights to China, including British Airways and United Airlines.

Here are some of the tweets going viral online:

https://twitter.com/inteldotwav/status/1222743921228468224

https://twitter.com/Ptmknhrsz/status/1222428273101168640

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) appears to spread more easily than the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, but is less severe in terms of the number of deaths, Hong Kong-based Professor Malik Peiris, who played a critical role in identifying SARS in 2003, told The Indian Express. However, the new strain of coronavirus is “more severe” than the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1), he said.

The virus has killed 170 people in China and infected more than 7,800 globally, but most of them are presently in China.

The virus has caused alarm because it is still too early to know how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads among people. Chinese officials say it is infectious during its incubation period, which could range from one to 14 days.

(with inputs from Reuters)

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