One of the many memes that circulated on social media during the start of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China pictures a man wearing a blue surgical mask with a lit cigarette sticking out of a hole poked in the middle, allowing him to smoke. "When you care about your health but also don't care about your health," is the caption.

Regardless as to whether the photograph is real or staged, it captured the attention of many because it conveys at least part of the present zeitgeist in coronavirus-hit China, as far as smoking is concerned.