DISINFO: Areas most affected by coronavirus are at the 40 degrees north latitude

Conspiracy theory with no evidence given. One of many recurring disinformation narratives about the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus. On March 12, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson and managing director of Biocon tweeted a viral image (archive link). Several users have shared on Twitter and Facebook. The viral claim lists four cities – Wuhan, Seattle, Washington and New York along with five countries – France, Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan while claiming that “all worst affected coronavirus [Covid 19] cases are along the same Latitude 40°.” It is important to keep in mind that, according to the US Geological Survey, at 38 degrees north latitude one degree of latitude is around 69 miles (111 kilometres). Therefore, large countries cannot be represented by a single latitude. Read further debunking here and here. Apart from that, coronavirus has already been detected in more than 180 countries all over the world.