Even as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous instances of anti-Asian sentiments are being reported. Hysteria, anxiety, confusion and a largely unchecked flow of fake news laced with conspiracy theories have only fuelled the prejudice against Asians, who of course, are no strangers to the phenomenon.

Asian countries know a thing or two about major disease outbreaks. They are still nursing the stigma due to the “Asian Flu” caused by the H2N2 virus (1957-58), the “Hong Kong Flu” caused by the H3N2 virus (1968), SARS caused by a coronavirus known as SARS-CoV (2003) and now, COVID-19 which is caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Social stigma created during pandemics is known to have a cascading effect. It can lead to economic, emotional, physical and social consequences which might take decades, even centuries to heal. Crises like disease outbreaks lead to creation of fear psychosis, leading to victimisation and alienation of certain groups. These groups may be of a particular ethnicity, religion, of certain descents and people directly or indirectly affected by such an outbreak.

Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have seen a flurry of reports citing racist, xenophobic acts against people of East Asian and Southeast Asian descent, especially the Chinese or those with similar physical characteristics. Be it India, Australia, Italy, the UAE, Israel, Japan or even China and Hong Kong, discriminatory behaviour against those affected by the virus, or perceived to be so, are on the rise.

Stigma against Asians can be traced back to the 1900s when the Chinatown Community in San Francisco, USA was ostracised. The city’s then mayor James D. Phelan reportedly termed the Chinese a “menace to public health”. Fast forward to 2020 and US President Trump repeatedly and unabashedly uses the term “China virus” while referring to coronavirus.

A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Hyderabad started a new chant “China virus go back”, but to this writer’s amazement, the virus did not go back and the MLA’s act seems to have gone in vain. People from India’s Northeastern community have complained of facing discriminatory behaviour, which existed well before COVID-19, but its ferocity has increased with coronavirus. Videos corroborating the claims have been circulating on the web even as plenty have come out in support of the marginalised.

The World Health Organisation in May 2015 noticed that naming diseases based on the region/country/place it broke out in was creating stigma and was having a negative impact on the people of said regions. To combat this, it laid down guidelines to name diseases to minimise untoward consequences. For example, the agency says the names should have generic descriptive terms like respiratory disease, hepatitis or specific descriptive terms like progressive or severe. Terms indicating geographical locations, names of people or cultural population must be avoided, the agency says.

Before the WHO stepped in, largely, the principles followed in naming a disease were exactly those which the agency asks to be avoided now. Case in point: the Ebola virus. The first case of the virus, which ravaged many countries in the African continent, was reported in 1976 Yambuku, a village located in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Peter Piot, co-discoverer of the virus, in his memoir says that naming the virus after Yambuku ran the risk of stigmatising the village hence they named it after what they presumed to be the closest river to the village. Their map however was inaccurate, Piot said, “in our entirely fatigued state, that's what we ended up calling the virus, Ebola.”

Scientists aren’t exactly sure about the origin of the virus that caused the Spanish Flu of 1918; France, China, Britain and the US are some suspects, but no one has put a finger on its exact origin. The first case of the flu in the US was reported in March 1918, while the first case in Spain was reported in May 1918. World War I had just ended and Spain happened to be a neutral country with no press censors, unlike the other nations involved in the war. And when the Spanish press reported the death of its monarch, King Alphonso XIII, due to the flu, the world presumed that the outbreak began in the country. The name stuck.

The tendency to showcase the virus as a foreign entity is not a new phenomenon either. The Spanish in fact termed the 1918 pandemic as the ‘French Flu’. But dismissing a virus as foreign without studying its technicalities comes at a cost. Ask the homosexuals around the world who have been for decades, and still are, victimised and ostracised for the spread of HIV/AIDS. Misinformation around HIV/AIDS has not only given impetus to homophobia but also encouraged anti-African sentiments.

Stigmatisation also takes a toll on those who are actually affected by the disease. It is natural for people to be scared when they show a few symptoms of a disease during a pandemic. Panic and fear created by outbreaks can expedite the spread of a disease. It is anxiety that stops one from seeking healthcare thereby undermining the public health response. Studies have shown that depression rates soar during epidemics and pandemics.

It cannot be denied that medical treatments play a major role in eradicating a disease, but empathy and communal harmony go a long way in surviving a pandemic without disturbing the social fabric.

Also read: Who's going back to China?

First Published:Apr 27, 2020 9:17 AM IST