The makers of Corona beer have reported a $169,927,560 (USD) loss as a result of the viral epidemic.

The news comes as the death toll from the virus surpassed 2,800 people, per CNN, with an additional 82,000 cases confirmed at the time of writing. To put the scale of the problem into context, there have now been confirmed cases on every continent bar Antarctica.

The Metro reports that the maker of Corona beer, brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, has forecast a 10% loss for the first quarter of 2020, with the majority of lost sales taking place in China during the first two months of the year.

The Belgium-based group said: "The impact of the Covid-19 virus outbreak on our business continues to evolve.

"The outbreak has led to a significant decline in demand in China in both on-premise and in-home channels. Additionally, demand during the Chinese New Year was lower than in previous years as it coincided with the beginning of this outbreak."

Despite the fact that there is no link between the beer and the virus, last month, searches for the "Corona Beer Virus" also skyrocketed on Google, as per BoingBoing,

The "corona beer virus" searches predominately came from North America. However, other countries guilty of making the mistake include western Europe, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, and New Zealand.

This is an unfortunate twist of fate for the company, which shares nothing more than a name with the virus. In Latin, corōna meant crown, and this is still the case in a number of modern languages including Catalan, Spanish, and Italian.

Coronavirus got the name because of its crownlike spikes on the virus particle, and Corona beer, as pictured above, has a small yellow crown above its "La Cerveza Mas Fina" slogan.

The makers of Corona beer have reported a $169,927,560 (USD) loss as a result of the viral epidemic.

The news comes as the death toll from the virus surpassed 2,800 people, per CNN, with an additional 82,000 cases confirmed at the time of writing. To put the scale of the problem into context, there have now been confirmed cases on every continent bar Antarctica.

The Metro reports that the maker of Corona beer, brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, has forecast a 10% loss for the first quarter of 2020, with the majority of lost sales taking place in China during the first two months of the year.

The Belgium-based group said: "The impact of the Covid-19 virus outbreak on our business continues to evolve.

"The outbreak has led to a significant decline in demand in China in both on-premise and in-home channels. Additionally, demand during the Chinese New Year was lower than in previous years as it coincided with the beginning of this outbreak."

Despite the fact that there is no link between the beer and the virus, last month, searches for the "Corona Beer Virus" also skyrocketed on Google, as per BoingBoing,

The "corona beer virus" searches predominately came from North America. However, other countries guilty of making the mistake include western Europe, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, and New Zealand.

This is an unfortunate twist of fate for the company, which shares nothing more than a name with the virus. In Latin, corōna meant crown, and this is still the case in a number of modern languages including Catalan, Spanish, and Italian.

Coronavirus got the name because of its crownlike spikes on the virus particle, and Corona beer, as pictured above, has a small yellow crown above its "La Cerveza Mas Fina" slogan.