An Asian woman wearing a mask in a Manhattan subway station was beaten with an umbrella. Another Asian woman in Midtown Manhattan was punched in the face for not wearing a mask. In London, a Singaporean was subjected to what police described as a "racially aggravated assault". There are more insults: People have been heard to utter "coronavirus" when individuals of Asian origin, particularly with Chinese features, pass by. Other slurs, such as "kung flu", have emerged. In times of one of the worst pandemics to afflict humans in a century, fear and foreboding are the order of the day. At last count, the number of Covid-19 cases has crossed 800,000 and deaths have exceeded 38,000. While scapegoating is not uncommon in difficult times, it has since taken on a nasty edge.

The President of the United States, the country with the highest count now of afflicted individuals, has repeatedly called it the "Chinese virus". While Mr Donald Trump has eased back on using the term after reports of racially motivated attacks on Asian Americans, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has stepped up talk of the "Wuhan virus". In fact, he squabbled with several Group of Seven peers who wanted him to drop the term. Fortunately, however, there are enough sensible Americans around. They include former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made it a point to announce that he would dine in a Chinese restaurant.

The fact remains that China is as much a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic as any other suffering nation. While the origin of the coronavirus is thought to be in Wuhan, there is every chance that some of what is taken as common knowledge today may be upended and reversed in the future. While Beijing should have been more prompt in alerting the world to the virus, this should not be equated with China being responsible for the outbreak. Besides, having taken draconian measures to achieve a measure of control over the pandemic within its borders, it has now embarked on helping many of the most critically affected nations in Europe, Africa and Asia with medical equipment and trained staff on the ground.

Countries, including Singapore, must be especially careful to prevent this other virus - xenophobia - from taking root. While it has had many manifestations in the past, it is currently showing up as Sinophobia. Petitions calling for a ban on travellers from China, as well as religious preachers who post on social media that the outbreak was "divine retribution" for China's past actions, do an immense disservice to a nation with claims to having strict adherence to tolerance and multiracialism. While governments can, and should, act against race-based targeting, xenophobia must ultimately be tackled from the ground up. This means that public recognition of the menace - and safe distancing from it - is essential to thwarting it.