British Asians see rise in racism since coronavirus outbreak (Getty)

The current coronavirus pandemic has originates from China and analysts are reporting a growing wave of online anti-Chinese sentiment as a result.

Things probably weren’t helped by Donald Trump referring to the covid-19 outbreak as the ‘China virus’.

Israeli startup L1ght tracks online hate speech and cyberbullying and reports it has seen a 900% increase in abuse targeting Asian people since the outbreak began. Obviously, given the lockdown there are far more people online inhabiting social media and messaging forums but the findings are nonetheless shocking.

‘Much of this hate and abuse is being directed towards China and its population, as well as individuals of Asian origin in other parts of the world,’ the report explains. ‘Toxic tweets are using explicit language to accuse Asians of carrying the coronavirus and blaming people of Asian origin as a collective for spreading the virus.’




The report also points out a shift in jargon on sites like Twitter where the sentiment is expressed through hashtag searches connecting China to coronavirus.

A pedestrian wears a surgical face mask as he walks through London’s China Town district (Justin Tallis via Getty Images)

L1ght reported that #Kungflu, #chinesevirus and #communistvirus have become very popular among individuals tweeting about the pandemic.

To reach its findings, L1ght analyzed millions of websites, social networks, teen chatting forums and gaming sites from December 2019 to today, along with images, videos and voice recordings to identify increases in hate speech, cyberbullying and general online toxicity.

‘It is deeply concerning that instigators of hate are exploiting this time of crisis to reach out to new audiences with their offensive content — including children,’ said Zohar Levkovitz, CEO and Co-Founder of L1ght in a statement.

‘Big tech companies and hosting providers have a responsibility to filter out online toxicity and they must act now.’

Critics say US President Donald Trump’s repeated references to the COVID-19 virus as the ‘Chinese virus,’ has also resulted in xenophobia.

Donald Trump has vowed to protect Asian American people amid claims his usage of the term ‘Chinese virus’ has put them at increased risk of racist attacks (AP)

Trump made the statement earlier this month during a briefing saying, he had ‘important developments in our war against the Chinese virus,’

He told reporters he used the description because the virus originated in Wuhan province of China.

‘It’s not racist at all. It comes from China, that’s why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate,’ he said during a press briefing.

More than 3,000 people have now lost their lives to coronavirus in the UK. The national death toll rose by 684 since yesterday, making it the biggest daily increase since the start of the outbreak.

The figures for Britain were updated after Scottish First minister said another 46 people had died, bringing Scotland’s total to 172.