Researchers in the US have observed an interesting phenomena.

Google searches for “Why can’t I smell?” appear to be predicting outbreaks of new cases of Corona Virus.

There is strong evidence that anosmia, or loss of smell, is a symptom of Covid-19, with some estimates suggesting that 30-60 percent of people with the disease experience this symptom.

Google searches for the phrase “loss of smell” align closely with the number of positive cases of coronavirus. See below.

Searches for “non sento odori” (“I can’t smell”) spiked in Italy as the coronavirus outbreak spread — but before a report was released identifying the possible symptom.

 

You can test the hypothesis for yourself.

If you check Google Trends in the UK to see volume of searches for “I can’t smell” it looks like this.

Now take a look at the record of new cases in the UK, collected by John Hopkins University.

Researchers have pointed out that localized Google searches could be a useful marker for the next outbreak of cases of Corona Virus, especially given the five day delay before symptoms emerge.

Here’s the UK Google and new case data combined.

Posted in: Infographic of the day