Footage purporting to show a Chinese woman eating a whole bat at a fancy restaurant has gone viral as the country is ravaged by a new deadly virus believed to have come from the flying mammals.
A separate trending video purports to show Cantonese-speaking diners preparing to eat soup made with the nocturnal animal.
The new strain of coronavirus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan last month, has killed at least 25 people, caused illness in more than 800 and caused the city of 11million to be in lockdown.
The virus, which can cause pneumonia, is poorly understood. Scientists now fear it may have spread to humans from snakes or bats.
A leading Chinese virologist who helped tackle the SARS epidemic in Asia in 2003 has warned that a new strain of deadly coronavirus from China could lead to an outbreak at least 10 times worse than the health crisis 17 years ago.
Bats are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a series of illnesses, including coughing, malaria and gonorrhea.
The animal’s faeces is also believed to be able to cure eye diseases, according to ancient Chinese medical masterpiece Ben Cao Gang Mu.
Would you try this delicious delicacy?