For many Singaporeans, the Wuhan respiratory virus seemed like a distant concern as they headed back to work and school in early January. News of the outbreak in central China likely crossed their Facebook news feed through the subsequent weeks, but few bothered to share or further interact with those posts.

That changed dramatically on January 23 because of two major developments. The first was the early morning announcement by the Chinese authorities that Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, would be locked down with all public transport suspended.

The second breaking news development came around 9pm that same day, this time with the Singapore authorities announcing the city-state’s first confirmed case of the Wuhan coronavirus.

These two developments, together with news of the worsening outbreak in China and elsewhere around the world, sparked a spectacular surge in social media interaction — which has become a flawed but useful barometer of public attitudes in Singapore given the paucity of opinion polls.

For instance, CNA’s FB post on the first confirmed case was shared more than 25,700 times - a clear indication of the heightened concern among Singaporeans.