Asian man on the Gold Coast wears a ‘I’m not a virus’ t-shirt amid coronavirus fears

The sad reality of coronavirus in Australia: Asian man living on the Gold Coast is forced to wear a t-shirt with the slogan ‘I am not a virus’

  • Asian man was captured wearing the shirt while staying at the Gold Coast 
  • Shirts are on offer with slogans ‘I am not a virus’ after outbreak of coronavirus
  • Chinese-Australians claim they are being judged over fears of the disease

An Asian man staying in an Australian hotel was forced to wear a t-shirt with the slogan ‘I am not a virus’ in the wake of the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The man was captured wearing the shirt while he used an elevator in a hotel in Queensland’s Gold Coast on Tuesday.  

Chinese-Australians have fallen victim to a string of racial remarks after the outbreak of the disease, with many claiming they are often judged by the public.

The disease spread from the Chinese province of Wuhan and has so far killed more than 1,800 people. 

An Asian man was seen wearing a t-shirt with the slogan ‘I am not a virus’ while staying at a hotel in the Gold Coast 

The photo was shared to Reddit with many Asian people saying they had also felt discriminated against.

‘It’s really sad that it has to come to this,’ someone wrote.

‘I’ve had people just ignore me, and I can’t tell if it’s because of the usual reason of not wanting to talk to somebody foreign because of the accent or because they think I’m riddled with a virus,’ another said.

‘I get funny looks at Chatswood for wearing a mask in a bid to keep myself safe,’ a third wrote.

Others said they were ignored by shop assistants.

‘The entire time I was in the store browsing, I was conscious of the fact that none of the staff approached me to help me with my selection of frames. Every other customer was helped. Won’t lie, felt like s**t,’ someone said.

‘Seriously though, I can’t even cough or sneeze in public without people shuffling away from me or giving me a sidewards glance, followed by a look of fear in their eyes,’ one person wrote.

Others shirts are circulating online in attempts to beat the stigma surrounding coronavirus including one that says Asians plus face masks do not equal the disease

Others shirts are circulating online in attempts to beat the stigma surrounding coronavirus including one that says Asians plus face masks do not equal the disease

Several t-shirts are now circulating online with slogans trying to beat the stigma surrounding coronavirus. 

Shirts are on offer with phrases such as ‘I am Chinese and I am not a virus’, as well as ‘Asian plus face mask does not equal virus’.

The shocking photo comes in the wake of a series of racist comments Chinese-Australians have been subjected to since the outbreak of coronavirus.

A Melbourne Uber driver refused to pick up a Malaysian man only to text him ‘I don’t need coronavirus’.

Another Chinese woman was forced to wait in her car instead of the doctor’s office for an appointment because she was wearing a face mask.

Last month, a 60-year-old Chinese man collapsed from a heart attack on a street in Chinatown, Sydney.

Bystanders reportedly refused to give the man CPR over fears they would contract the virus.

Paramedics tried to revive the man but he died at the scene. 

Chinese customers are seen wearing face masks as they wait to buy dumplings from a popular shop in Beijing

Chinese customers are seen wearing face masks as they wait to buy dumplings from a popular shop in Beijing

AUSTRALIANS WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

NEW SOUTH WALES: 4 

January 25

  • Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China are confirmed to have contracted the disease.
  • Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.
  • They are being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital and are in stable condition.

January 27 

  • A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.
  • The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.
  • She is being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital.

VICTORIA: 4

January 25

  • A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.
  • The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.
  • He is now in quarantined isolation at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne’s east.

January 29

  • A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.
  • He became unwell on January 23 – two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. 
  •  The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre. He was assessed as being well enough to stay at home.

January 30

  • A woman in her 40s is found to have coronavirus. 
  •  She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.
  • She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital.          

February 1

  • A woman in her 20s in Melbourne is found to have the virus

 QUEENSLAND: 5

January 29

  • Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national wass diagnosed with the virus.
  • He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital.

January 30

  • A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition.  

February 4

  • An eight-year-old boy has been diagnosed coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from    

February 5  

  • The case was found in a 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast

February 6

  • A 37-year-old woman has been diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 2

February 1

  • A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.

CHINA: 2

January 30

  • Two Australians have been confirmed as having the virus in Wuhan itself. Australia has raised the travel alert level to ‘do not travel’ for the city of Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak – and for the entire Hubei province.
  • Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says unless people have contact with someone who is unwell and has come from that part of China, there is no need for current concern. 

JAPAN: 15    

  • As of February 15, 15 Australians are among 219 confirmed cases of the coronavirus contracted on board Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama.

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