Mapping the changing Internet attention to the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 in China

The incessant spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a great threat to human health. By 17 March 2020, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases had exceeded 179,000, with more than 7000 deaths across at least 150 countries. Due to the extremely contagious nature of COVID-19, the Chinese government has made broad and aggressive responses to restrict movement, transportation, and business for six to eleven weeks. Wuhan, a city in Hubei province from which COVID-19 emanated, has been quarantined since 12 January 2020, and many other cities have been placed under travel restrictions. Citizens have been strongly encouraged to stay home and limit face-to-face contact; as a result, people’s daily lives are dominated by the Internet as never before. Here, we visualize the spread of COVID-19 and people’s Internet attention in China in the form of cartograms using the diffusion-based method.