According to the World Health Organisation, CHIKV disease onset is typically four to eight days long following the bite of an infected mosquito. It can be identified with the sudden onset of fever, along with serious joint pain, which usually lasts for a number of days.

Thousands in southern China have been infected with a mosquito-borne illness in the past few weeks, in what's considered one of the most notable outbreaks of the disease since it was first detected in the country nearly two decades ago.