A worker in protective gear sprays disinfectant on a train carriage converted into an isolation ward for Covid-19 patients during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown in Howrah near Kolkata on April 5. Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images

Doctors in India are being attacked and harassed by their communities, due to fears that they may be infected after working with coronavirus patients.

Last week, a mob in the central state of Madhya Pradesh pelted doctors with stones while they were treating a suspected coronavirus patient.

And a doctor in the city of Surat, in the western state of Gujarat, was harassed by her neighbors on Saturday, according to a senior police official.

"The doctor claims that the neighbors accused her of having the coronavirus and were yelling at her, but the neighbors say that they were angry because the doctor's dog had attacked them," said police commissioner R B Brahmabhatt.

The neighbors were arrested on Sunday and released on bail.

Medical staff in the capital New Delhi also say they have been ostracized and discriminated against. Some doctors have even reported being evicted, or faced threats that their electricity will be cut off.

For weeks, state and federal authorities have urged the public to avoid violence or stigmatizing medical staff, and have praised frontline workers -- but the attacks have continued.