Covid-19: Did this novel predict coronavirus outbreak 40 years ago?

New Delhi - Excerpts from the book are making rounds on social media.

By IANS

Published: Tue 18 Feb 2020, 11:33 AM

Last updated: Tue 18 Feb 2020, 8:13 PM

An excerpt of the novel 'The Eyes of Darkness', a 1981 thriller by bestselling suspense author Dean Koontz, which tells of a Chinese military lab that creates a virus as part of its biological weapons programme, is making rounds on social media.

In chapter 39 of his book, Koontz writes that the lab is located in Wuhan, which lends the virus its name, Wuhan-400.
All you need to know about the outbreak

Congress leader Manish Tewari has also tweeted excerpts from a book that went viral on the Internet that the coronavirus involved in the outbreak in China's Wuhan appears to be man-made.

It's a strange world we live in.#coronavirus #COVID19 #Wuhan pic.twitter.com/WkjbK4zGaW
- Darren of Plymouth ???? (@DarrenPlymouth) February 16, 2020

"Is coranavirus a biological weapon developed by the Chinese called Wuhan-400? This book was published in 1981. Do read the excerpt," Congress leader Manish Tewari tweeted.

Tewari highlighted a paragraph that read: "They call the stuff 'Wuhan-400' because it was developed at their RDNA labs outside of the city of Wuhan, and it was the four hundredth viable strain of man-made microorganisms created at that centre."

As the post went viral, Twitterati flooded the social media with their reactions.

A user wrote, "Haha infinite monkey theorem. Pick any event and chances are that some book written at some would have a similar plot. Conspiracy theory has no end."

Another wrote, "Sensational ... No doubt China had replaced Russia and USSR as rogue country in Hollywood films and later James Bond movies."

A post read, "Intriguing for sure, hope the truth comes out."

A user remarked, "Okay if it is then it surely backfired on them!"

By the end of Sunday, a total of 1,770 people had died of the disease and 70,548 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China.