10 Things Contagion Predicted Perfectly (Or Not) About The Current Pandemic
9. Originated From China
What It Gets Right
The prediction of an illness created by bats originating from China was a key plot point of the film. There may have been a change of location from Wuhan to Hong Kong, but the fact the movie's prediction of China being the source of a virus is remarkable.
The other striking similarity between the movie and reality is that the use of poor hygiene and poor food storage were a central factor in the movie and the current pandemic. The movie's final scene detailed the poor conditions in which the contaminated pig was grown and transported, while also displaying the poor hygiene of the head chef of the 5 star hotel as reasons the virus originated.
This carries some strong similarities to the issues faced in reality. As detailed in an article by Sarah Newey and Anne Gulland from The Telegraph on March 31, Wuhan markets posed 'a heightened risk of viruses jumping from animals to humans because hygiene standards are difficult to maintain if live animals are being kept and butchered on site.' This was proof once more of the movie's predictions being eery in its accuracy.
What It Doesn't
The only real difference here is that an international business woman was the first to be infected in the movie. As Jenna Bryer from live Science noted, the patient zero for our real world scenario was identified as "a 55-year-old individual from Hubei province in China." Otherwise the film's predictions were pretty damn accurate.