As the news about the first four victims of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Malaysia spreads, a sense of paranoia has set in
Malaysians, reacting with haste and panic, have taken to social media demanding that the government must send all confirmed and suspected cases “back to where they came from”.
The four infected victims, currently quarantined here, are all from Wuhan, China.
The virus is clearly troubling, but maybe don’t make sweeping, prejudiced generalisations about a nation of 1.4 billion people?
— hakimi? (@phospholivid) January 25, 2020
As of this writing, the virus that originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan has killed 56 in China and has infected a total of 2,019 people globally. Of the infected, 49 have now recovered.
There is no arguing the fact that the outbreak has become serious, but a kneejerk reaction on social media is not going to help the case. If anything, it’s only fueling the online paranoia.
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