Coronavirus: Hong Kong Covid-19 blame game in full swing again, with ethnic minority groups bearing brunt
- Rising number of Covid-19 cases has triggered a mounting wave of discrimination against ethnic minority groups
- Community leader says discrimination against ethnic minority residents is a long-term issue in Hong Kong but has now worsened
It was a request Sajed Rayan had not heard before in Hong Kong. Waiting for the lift in his building’s lobby after work one day, a Chinese family of three kept their distance and asked him to take it alone while they waited for the next one.
Rayan, who was born in Pakistan and came to Hong Kong with his parents at age 20, said he had not experienced such discrimination previously, until the latest outbreak of coronavirus infections.
“I felt they treated me as if I carried the coronavirus on me,” said the 43-year-old, who was wearing the traditional Pakistani attire of shalwar kameez at the time.
Despite his anger and sadness, Rayan, a manager of a garment trading company, took the lift in his Lai Chi Kok building on his own, but kept the encounter on January 20 from his wife and their son, 12, and daughter, three, so as not to worry them.
A rising number of Covid-19 cases in the city has triggered a mounting wave of discrimination against ethnic minority groups – with people blaming them for the worsening coronavirus outbreak. They have been insulted, humiliated and shunned.
