After the coronavirus outbreak, several instances of racism have come to light, especially for the people of the North East region.

Many have complained of being taunted as ‘coronavirus’ while others, have complained about facing discriminatory behaviour. 

Take this story for instance. 

Cathy Chakhesang, along with eight of her colleagues from Nagaland, was forced to spend the night in a government quarantine facility in Ahmedabad that was only meant for suspected coronavirus patients. 

According to reports, despite having no symptoms, six women and three men were taken to the quarantine facility. They didn’t show any physical symptoms and nor did anyone from the group have foreign travel history. 

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They didn’t even come in contact with anyone who had coronavirus but still, they were asked to stay at the quarantine facility for 24 hours. 

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While talking about the incident Chakhesang said: 

They told the owner of the company that some public had complained about us – that we are carrying the virus because we look like Chinese. We told them we are from Nagaland in India.

Apparently, someone anonymously called the Ahmedabad police and complained that they could be infected by the coronavirus which reportedly originated in China. So, clearly this seems like a case of racism. 

After all of them were taken to the quarantine centre, their temperatures were taken but, no blood samples or swabs were taken for further testing. 

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It was only after Chakhesang took to social media on Saturday, to recall her experience, that her story went viral, especially in the North East region. 

Finally, on Saturday evening the Ahmedabad police commissioner, accompanied by senior Indian Police Services officers, arrived at the facility and let go off all the Naga youths around midnight. 

When asked about the incident, Ashish Bhatia, Ahmedabad police commissioner said:

Nothing went wrong. It was very simple, they were not subjected to anything, only checking and all was done. 
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But, when Ashish Bhatia was asked why all the individuals had to spend 24 hours in a quarantine facility meant for patients he said:

Everybody is there, [other] people are there for 14 days.

Sadly, one major by-product of the coronavirus outbreak seems to be racism against northeast citizens.