In Stephen Soderbergh's 2011 film Contagion, a mysterious virus originating in Macau ripples through the United States. What follows is a bubbling concoction of state anxiety, pandemic imagery and looming societal collapse.

The emergence of a new coronavirus in central China, termed “2019-nCoV”, has dampened Lunar New Year celebrations in the country and sparked memories of SARS, which spread to more than two dozen countries, including Australia, and infected thousands in 2003.

Women and a child wear protective masks in Beijing, China, on Saturday. Credit:Getty Images

Images of Chinese people in masks are saturating the TV news. Apocalyptic imagery and headlines have foreshadowed a global health emergency, although the World Health Organisation is yet to declare one.

Meanwhile, the death toll is on the rise, cities are in lockdown and Australians consume daily updates indicating the number of people being tested for the virus on our shores. Authorities have confirmed that, so far, three people have tested positive in NSW and one in Victoria.