'Corona beer virus' searches suddenly spike on Google after deadly coronavirus outbreak

As news of the coronavirus outbreak continues to travel across the world, people are understandably worried about what could happen.

Naturally, there have been many articles, live blogs and news bulletins about the virus, which is now spreading from person to person and is thought to have reached beyond China.

This lethal strain of coronavirus is suspected to have been originated from seafood and meet in markets in Wuhan, China.

But some people, it seems, might be worried there there’s another cause for the virus.

Google trends reveals a spike in searches “Coronavirus beer”, "Corona virus beer" and “Virus corona beer” in the last few days.

The searches are primarily coming from Australia, India, Canada and America. And the obvious conclusion from searches for “beer” and “virus” together would be a perceived connection between Corona beer and the coronavirus, given obvious the similarity in names.

Here's a map of where the searches, which run into the hundreds in Australia, are coming from...

To be crystal clear (and we can’t quite believe this might need explaining) there is absolutely zero connection between Corona beer and this deadly virus. So if you’re looking forward to relaxing this weekend with a beer and zesty lime, please do go ahead and indulge.

The World Health Organisation stopped short of declaring the outbreak an international emergency, while 14 suspected cases in the UK were found not to have the virus after tests.

More: Should we be worried about the Wuhan coronavirus? Here’s what we know so far