Table 1.

Posts on the Weibo social media platform organized according to themes detected in qualitative analysis.

Theme, Description of topic (English)		Example topics (Chinese with English translation)
Causative agent
	Concerns about potential SARSa re-emergence	[希望不是非典，大家安心过年] “I wish this is not SARS, hope everyone can have a peaceful New Year Eve”
	Wuhan Seafood Wholesale Market considered the source of causative agent	[华南海鲜市场可能是病毒来源] “Wuhan Seafood Wholesale Market might be the source of the causative agent”
	Pneumonia caused by unknown reason	[武汉出现不明原因肺炎] “cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology detected in Wuhan City”
	Novel coronavirus has been confirmed as causative agent	[初步认定为新型冠状病毒] “Causative agent preliminary identification of a novel coronavirus”
Epidemiological characteristics of the outbreak
	No evidence of human-to-human transmission	[目前没有证据证明人传人] “There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission”
	New confirmed cases and statistics on mortality	[截至昨日病例已增至44例，其中11例重症，均接受隔离治疗] “Until yesterday, there were 44 confirm cases, 11 severe cases, all have been isolated and treated”
	Public Health supervision for people who had close contact with patients with confirmed cases	[与病患接触者进行医学观察] “People who have close connection with confirmed cases are under medical supervision”
Public reaction to outbreak control and response
	Wear masks, keep away from crowds	[虽然不知道是不是人传人，还是戴上口罩，远离人群] “Not sure if it is human to human transmissible, but wear masks and keep away from crowds would help. Just in case.”
	Self-evacuating Wuhan	[太可怕了，快点离开这儿吧] “It’s scary, let’s leave here (Wuhan)”
	Will still attend New Year celebration event	[不明原因肺炎丝毫不影响大家戴口罩出来跨年] “The pneumonia of unknown cause seems not to impact people’s New Year Eve celebration event”
Other topics
	Wuhan Red Cross under scrutiny	[红十字会遭到社会指责] “The Red Cross was accused by society”
	Travel restrictions	[从1月23日10时起，武汉市和周边的鄂州市、仙桃市、潜江市、黄冈市、荆门市等相续宣布暂停运营城市公交、地铁、轮渡、长途客运，暂时关闭机场、火车站、高速公路等离开通道，严防武汉新型冠状病毒疫情扩散。] “From 10:00 on January 23, Wuhan and surrounding Ezhou, Xiantao, Qianjiang, Huanggang, Jingmen, etc. have successively announced the suspension of operation of city buses, subways, ferries, long-distance passenger transport, and temporarily closed airports and trains. Stations, highways, etc. leave the passage to strictly prevent the spread of new coronavirus epidemics in Wuhan.”
	New hospital construction projects	[新建武汉“小汤山] “Will build new hospitals in Wuhan (Lei Shen Shan & Huo Shen Shan), also called Wuhan Xiao Tang Shan”

^aSARS: severe acute respiratory syndrome.