Viruses, sinophobia and conspiracy theories

AS THE novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak worsens, managing public opinion as well as international relations has become more complex, with numerous consequences unfolding like falling dominoes.

Particularly after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, many countries began to put in place restrictions on the entry of travellers with recent travel history to China. Across the world, reverberations rippled through countless minds, even giving rise to panic. A warning was sounded in the media at some point that the Chinese populace's fear for natives from Wuhan or Hubei might spark off a fear of Chinese people in general in the international community. This has, unfortunately, come true.

Due to the continued spread of the disease, the rising number of the infected, and the fact that there is still much uncertainty about the novel coronavirus' potency, its mode of transmission as well as how the disease could be treated, there is panic on the global scene - panic that in turn translates into sinophobia. From Britain to France to the Netherlands, we are already seeing racist attacks on the local Chinese by people in the streets.