The problems, several Chinese residents said, began even before India suspended all e-visas to Chinese and foreign nationals residing in China. (Representational)

Panic over the 2019 novel coronavirus, which has over 24,000 recorded cases and a death toll of 490 in China, has affected the close-knit Chinese community in Mumbai, with several saying they are being discriminated against in a city that had until recently been friendly and hospitable to them.

The problems, several Chinese residents said, began even before India suspended all e-visas to Chinese and foreign nationals residing in China.

A 30-year-old Chinese woman, who did not wish to be named, said she was asked by a housing society member to show her travel history before she was allowed to visit her friend’s flat in Khar, Mumbai’s western suburbs. “I had to show her my passport. There is discrimination and we can do nothing about it,” said the woman, who has been living in Mumbai for a few months.

A 27-year-old man had to cancel his return ticket from China to Mumbai after his landlord told him he would be barred from entering the Santacruz West society, where he is a tenant, if he did not provide a health certificate.

Requesting anonymity, he said he had travelled to China on January 15 to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family in Zhejiang. He had planned to return by February 1. His landlady reached out to him while he was in China and asked him to provide a health certificate from the Indian government stating he did not contract the coronavirus.

“I asked her where I could get such a certificate. She didn’t know which department I should approach. She said the society would refuse to give me entry. I had to cancel my flight ticket…,” he told The Indian Express over a series of text messages from China. With the government’s suspension of e-visas of Chinese nationals from February 2, the 30-year-old said he faced a long wait to return. “Until then, I can’t report to work in Mumbai.” he said, adding, “I understand, it’s fair for them to be worried, but it’s unfair towards me.”

At Mumbai’s Consulate of China, where at least 15 Chinese nationals work, officials said they had instructions to not discuss the coronavirus.

Several in the community said they are afraid to step out in public places. A 30-year-old Chinese national who visited Mumbai last month asked her friend, an Indian who teaches Mandarin as well as Chinese culture and society at Mumbai University, if it would be convenient for them to meet.

“That was the first thing she asked. She said she had heard rumours were doing the rounds against Chinese people due to the virus,” the MU teacher said. The 30-year-old returned to Hong Kong on Wednesday and took a train to mainland China. “The outbreak has affected the image of Chinese people globally and they feel mistreated to some extent,” the MU teacher said.