xenophobia and racism related to the covid-19 pandemic xenophobia and racism related to the covid-19 pandemic the covid-19 pandemic was first reported in the city of wuhan, hubei, china, in december 2019. the origins of the virus have subsequently led to an increase in acts and displays of sinophobia, as well as prejudice, xenophobia, discrimination, violence, and racism against people of east asian and southeast asian descent and appearance around the world. with the spread of the pandemic and formation of hotspots, such as those in asia, europe, and the americas, discrimination against people from these hotspots has been reported. part of a series ondiscrimination forms institutional structural attributes age disability genetics hair color hair texture height looks size language race / ethnicity nordicism skin color rank caste class religion sex sexual orientation social acephobia arophobia adultism anti-albinism anti-autism anti-drug addicts anti-homelessness anti-intellectualism anti-intersex anti-left handedness anti-masonry aporophobia audism biphobia cronyism elitism ephebiphobia fatphobia gayphobia gerontophobia heterosexism hiv/aids stigma homophobia leprosy stigma lesbophobia misandry misogyny nepotism pedophobia perpetual foreigner pregnancy sectarianism supremacism black white transphobia non-binary transmisogyny trans men vegaphobia xenophobia religious ahmadiyya atheism baháʼí faith buddhism catholicism christianity post–cold war era druze falun gong hinduism persecution untouchability islam persecution jehovah's witnesses judaism persecution lds or mormon neopaganism non-muslims eastern orthodox oriental orthodox copts protestantism rastafari sikhs shi'ism sufism sunnism zoroastrianism ethnic/national african afghan albanian american arab armenian australian austrian azerbaijani bosnian brazilian british canadian catalan chechen chilean chinese croat english filipino finnish french fulani georgian german greek haitian hazara hispanic hungarian igbo indian canadian and us indigenous peoples indonesian iranian irish israeli italian japanese jewish khmer korean kurdish malay mexican middle eastern mongolian montenegrin muhajirs pakistani palestinian pashtun polish quebec romani romanian russian scottish serb slavic somali tatar thai tibetan turkish ukrainian uyghur venezuelan vietnamese manifestations blood libel bullying online lgbt compulsory sterilization corrective rape counter-jihad cultural genocide defamation democide disability hate crime dog-whistle politics eliminationism economic education employment ethnic cleansing ethnic conflict ethnic hatred ethnic joke ethnocide forced conversion freak show gay bashing gendercide genital modification and mutilation genocide examples glass ceiling hate crime lgbt hate group hate speech online homeless dumping housing indian rolling infantilization language minoritization lavender scare lynching mortgage murder music native american mascots occupational segregation opposition to immigration persecution pogrom purge red scare religious persecution religious terrorism religious violence religious war scapegoating segregation academy sex-selective abortion slavery slut-shaming violence against transgender people victimisation violence against men violence against women white flight white genocide conspiracy theory white power music wife selling witch-hunt policies age of candidacy babel proclamation blood purity blood quantum citizen, speak turkish! crime of apartheid dialect card disabilities catholic jewish environmental racism ethnocracy ethnopluralism gender pay gap gerontocracy gerrymandering ghetto benches internment jewish quota jim crow laws ketuanan melayu article 153 kinder der landstrasse law for protection of the nation mccarthyism msm blood donation restrictions nonpersons numerus clausus (as religious or racial quota) nuremberg laws one-drop rule racial quota racial steering redlining same-sex marriage (laws and issues prohibiting) segregation age racial religious sexual sodomy law state atheism state religion symbole ugly law vergonha voter suppression welsh not white australia policy countermeasures affirmative action anti-discrimination law cultural assimilation cultural pluralism diversity training empowerment environmental justice feminism fighting discrimination hate speech laws by country human rights intersex rights lgbt rights masculism multiculturalism nonviolence racial integration reappropriation self-determination social integration toleration related topics bias dehumanization go back to where you came from oppression internalized power distance prejudice reverse discrimination social exclusion social stigma stereotype threat civil liberties diversity intersectionality multiculturalism polyculturalism political correctness white privilege racial bias in criminal news (us) racism by country reverse racism the talk (us) woke (us) amatonormativity gender roles heteronormativity male privilege masculism second-generation gender bias medical model of disability autism neurodiversity social model of disability allophilia ethnic penalty oikophobia christian privilege religious intolerance eugenics net bias snobbery speciesism police brutality prisoner abuse part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each "ball" is an atom. covid-19 (disease) sars-cov-2 (virus) cases deaths timeline 2019 2020 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2021 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2022 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november december 2023 january february march april may locations by country and territory africa antarctica asia europe north america oceania south america by conveyance cruise ships naval ships international response endemic phase evacuations face masks international aid investigations into origin lockdowns by country misinformation by governments fake treatments social distancing software travel united nations world health organization wto ip waiver undercounting of deaths covid-19 apps zero-covid national responses africa china european union germany ghana india ireland netherlands new zealand nigeria philippines russia sweden uk government us federal government vietnam medical response disease testing breathalyzer development drug development drug repurposing public health mitigation vaccines history research vitt deployment authorizations operation warp speed misinformation and hesitancy us vaccine card vaccine passports current vaccines coronavac covaxin convidecia janssen medigen moderna novavax oxford–astrazeneca pfizer–biontech sinopharm bibp sputnik v variants variants of concern alpha beta gamma delta omicron other variants epsilon zeta eta theta iota kappa lambda mu cluster 5 lineage b.1.617 economic impact and recession arts and culture aviation cannabis cinema films disney fashion financial markets food industry food security journalism music performing arts retail shipping television us sportscasting programs tourism video games by country canada india ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us by sport association football baseball basketball combat sports cricket disc golf gaelic games gridiron football ice hockey motorsport rugby league impacts animals black people crime death rates by country disability domestic violence emergency evacuations education female environment hospitals language lgbt community long-term care media coverage mental health symptoms migration military notable deaths other health issues politics diplomacy popular culture protests pregnancy prisons religion catholic church hajj science and technology social media strikes suicides telehealth xenophobia and racism society ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us covid-19 portal background in the past, many diseases have been named after geographical locations, such as middle east respiratory syndrome and zika virus, but in 2015, the world health organization introduced recommendations to avoid this practice, to reduce stigma. in accordance with this policy, the who recommended the official name "covid-19" in february 2020. in early coverage of the outbreak, some news sources associated the virus with china in a manner that contributed to stigma. the journal nature later published an apology for this type of coverage. however, even after the majority of politicians had switched to avoiding stigmatizing language when referring to the virus, a minority continued. following the progression of the outbreak to new hotspot countries, people from italy (the first country in europe to experience a serious outbreak of covid-19) were also subjected to suspicion and xenophobia, as were people from hotspots in other countries. discrimination against muslims in india escalated after public health authorities identified an islamic missionary (tablighi jamaat) group's gathering in new delhi in early march 2020 as a source of spread. as of late april 2020, paris had seen riots break out over police treatment of marginalised ethnic groups during the then in-place lockdown. racism and xenophobia towards southern and south east asians increased in the arab states of the persian gulf. in china, some people of african descent were evicted from their homes and told to leave china within 24 hours, due to disinformation that they and other foreigners were spreading the virus. this racism and xenophobia was criticised by some foreign governments, diplomatic corps, and the chinese ambassador to zimbabwe. africa cameroon the us embassy in yaoundé issued a travel warning to us citizens amid reports of "... verbal and online harassment, stone throwing, and banging on vehicles occupied by expatriates". some residents of cameroon thought that europeans and americans brought covid to africa. egypt according to the embassy of japan in cairo, store clerks had been hesitating to serve japanese customers, and "corona" had become a new slur with which to abuse japanese people on the street. on 10 march 2020, an uber driver was arrested after a viral video showing the driver forcibly removing his chinese passenger at a highway in cairo's maadi district on suspicion of having the virus. in the video, a voice is heard in the video jokingly shouting "the first coronavirus case in egypt!" and the same voice then tells the driver "may god support you, hajji! throw him out!". the incident has sparked outrage among egyptians after the video was uploaded. some egyptians visited the chinese man in his hotel and expressed an apology to him for the incident, widely condemned in the local media as an act of bullying and racism. ethiopia violence towards foreigners has been reported amidst the pandemic, with some locals attacking foreigners on social media by publishing photos of them and linking them to the coronavirus. the foreign correspondents association of ethiopia had warned that "dangerous rumours" and "vicious posts" were being spread on the internet about foreign journalists, while other foreigners had been physically attacked. kenya a video reportedly recorded in kibera, kenya, in march 2020 shows an angry crowd threatening a man and a woman of east asian descent about the coronavirus. a man in the crowd shouts at the frightened couple, "you are corona!" a motorcycle rider from the crowd later raised his hand threatening to slap the asian man. growing unease towards chinese immigrants has been reported in the streets of nairobi and its environment especially towards construction workers. an alleged kenyan member of parliament posted in a facebook message that his constituents had the right to stone and chase away any chinese visitors who were not quarantined. a kenyan taxi driver told the bbc that chinese nationals had been changing their usernames on taxi hailing apps to avoid their passenger requests being declined. nigeria geopolitical analyst ovigwe eguegu reported that "a plethora of conspiracy theories, and videos of asians (some chinese) eating bats, and other exotic animals" on nigerian social media has led to increased sinophobia. south africa an ethnic chinese man in johannesburg told the news broadcaster deutsche welle that violent comments such as "wipe the chinese people out" and "hope this virus gets all of them" have been expressed in the country by locals. additionally, one of the earliest reactions of the south african government with regard to covid-19 prevention was to build a forty-kilometer (25 mi) fence on the border with zimbabwe. this action was intended to "ensure that no undocumented or infected persons cross into the country", according to public works minister patricia de lille. in february 2021, the director of the jesuit institute south africa, father russell pollitt, criticized as potentially xenophobic health minister dr. zweli mkhize's announcement that covid-19 vaccine distribution would be limited to only south african citizens. asia bangladesh the bangladeshi government has sent dozens of rohingya refugees, who had remained stranded at sea for several weeks, to bhasan char, an uninhabited island in the estuary of the meghna river. hundreds more remain stranded on two overcrowded trawlers between bangladesh and malaysia. human rights groups have criticised the bangladeshi and malaysian governments for using the coronavirus pandemic as a pretext to send away refugees. mainland china