Amid coronavirus pandemic, India faces another danger
- Rumours and misinformation rife as India confronts added coronavirus threat
- India has so far reported dozens of Covid-19 infections but has stepped up efforts to contain spread
So far, these have ranged from bogus remedies and Covid-19 cures to racially tinged attacks directed at people because of their appearance, including those from Indian states that share a border with China, where the virus emerged in November.
Last week, Hmingtei Chhangte, a young IT professional based in Pune, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, posted a video of an incident from a grocery store. In the video, a woman can be seen arguing with Chhangte and accusing her of spreading the coronavirus by not covering her face.
Shaken by the incident, she wrote on Instagram: “The woman was making comments directed towards us suggesting we are Chinese. And when I confronted her she started to scream at us. This can happen to anyone from the Northeast”.
Zosang Pachau, a 24-year-old student at the University of Delhi, said he was harassed while on the way to college.