Amidst the coronavirus crisis, Saudi social media users widely shared images of a South Asian worker in the country's biggest oil producer Aramco dressed as a human hand sanitizer.

طبقية خليجية

اهداء من أرامكو pic.twitter.com/FpWsUNw7mE — هشام فقيه (@HishamFageeh) March 10, 2020

Translation: "The Gulf kind of class discrimination, gift by Aramco"

Online commentators perceived the content of the photos as racist and inhumane and called on officials in the company to stop such practices and apologize to the foreign worker.

Creatively Degradingly stupid ! — Baraa | Filmmer (@Baraa_Alem) March 10, 2020

Whoever made this inhuman decision in @Saudi_Aramco should be fired.

Apologizing is not enough. — هند الإرياني Hind Al-Eryani (@HindAleryani) March 11, 2020

Shortly after the photos went viral, the company, that's considered one of the biggest in the world, tweeted a condemnation of the practice and highlighted immediate action to stop it, explaining that it doesn't represent the company's values.

إشارة إلى الصور المتداولة في وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي لأحد الزملاء مرتدياً ما يشبه عبوة للتعقيم في أحد مرافقها، تود #أرامكو السعودية أن تعرب عن استيائها الشديد من هذا التصرف المسيء الذي أريد به التأكيد على أهمية التعقيم، دون أخذ موافقة من الجهة المعنية بالشركة. — أرامكو (@Saudi_Aramco) March 10, 2020

Translation: "Reference to the viral images of one of our colleagues, dressed as a hand sanitizer, in one of our faculties, Saudi Aramco would like to express extreme resentment of this outrageous act, which was only aimed at stressing the importance of sterilizing and was not officially approved by the authority in charge."

وقد قامت الشركة على الفور بإيقاف هذا الفعل واتخاذ إجراءات صارمة تحول دون تكراره.

وتؤكّد الشركة حزمها ضد المساس بقيمها المبنية على الاحترام والتمسك بأخلاقيات السلوك والتعامل. — أرامكو (@Saudi_Aramco) March 10, 2020

Translation: "The company has issued an immediate order to stop this act and to take firm action that prevents its recurrence. The company asserts its firm response against acts that violate its deeply-rooted values of respect and conduct ethics."