Coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken the lives of 7,171 people as of March 17 and with 182,605 confirmed cases in 162 countries and territories, the scare or this contagious infection is only increasing. However, that doesn't give anybody the right to be racist towards anyone. The rest of the country has always let down the northeastern population, by often not acknowledging them or by being racist towards them because of their physical features. However, while the coronavirus outbreak is taking over the country, many people are using this as an opportunity to exercise racism against the northeastern population by calling them names.  UNICEF 'Hand-Washing Dance' Video Goes Viral Amid Coronavirus Outbreak. 

Some of the kids from northeast Indian took to Facebook to share a heartbreaking video, urging people to not call them names. They said that while the racism already existed, after the coronavirus outbreak, it has only gotten worse. They shared their experiences of being called with racist slurs like "Chinese", "Ch***i" and even "Corona".  "Stop calling us corona, ch***i, Chinese ... North East students of Punjab. #Govt_Of_India #say #No #to #Racism #Students #Northeast #India.", the caption read. The clip starts with a girl saying, "Abhi jo chal raha hai yeh coronavirus, humare upar bahut effect ho raha hai kyunki pehle toh humein Nepali, Ch***i, Chinese yeh sab bolta tha, abhi toh coronavirus ho gaya hai."  India Suspends All Tourist Visas Till April 15. 

The students shared instances of discrimination and people labelling them as "coronavirus" because "they look Chinese". Such racism is taking a toll on their mental health and also education. Some of them were also denied rented houses because they looked like they were from China.  Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory: Twitterati Share COVID-19 Pandemic 'Prediction' from Dean Koontz 1981 Book 'The Eyes of Darkness'. 

The northeast Indian students also urged the viewers to "educate themselves about the map of India" because one of them who was from Manipur was told that the place is in China.  The viral video garnered a lot of views and comments online. "Due to lack of knowledge some people of our own country commented like this..they should go through books or Indian Map where the places are situated so that they could gain some knowledge.." one of the comments read.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 17, 2020 09:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).