The year 2020 began together with the coronavirus (COVID-19), and it has become clear that fear could be as dangerous as the disease itself. The era of communication and technology has allowed news and alarms such as the emergence of a new virus to travel and multiply at a dizzying speed. At the same time, all kinds of rumors circulate, and the World Health Organization deals with their denial or clarification. Also, amazing prophecies or extraordinary coincidences that would have accurately anticipated the existence of the coronavirus are propagated. How much is true and how much is business? How can we protect ourselves from biological viruses and the dangerous opportunistic viralization of news?

IntroductionCoronavirus, a broad family of virusesNew Coronavirus COVID-19Zoonotic virusesBiological viruses, computer viruses and viralizationDean Koontz and his novel The Eyes of DarknessOther fictions about epidemicsOther prophecies about the coronavirusHumanity will come to an end