Children in primary schools across the UK are playing a twisted playground game in which they pretend a friend has coronavirus and banish them "for the rest of lunchtime with no human rights".
Dubbed the "coronavirus game", the activity has been described as "heartbreaking".
Celia Hutton, who is BBC Asia Pacific editor, said a fellow parent at a central London school explained the distressing nature of the game.
"The parent said 'How was school' and the kid says 'Great, we played coronavirus' and the parent says 'what's that?' and the kid says 'You breathe on people and they have to be locked in the zone' - that's the climbing frame at the school playground - 'for the rest of lunchtime with no human rights," the reporter told BBC's global news podcast today.
"So this is what children are actually playing in central London.
"I mean it's funny but it's also kind of heartbreaking that this is the case."
And Ms Hutton conceded there is a "real problem" with children of Asian ethnicity being "shunned" in schools around the world as a result of the virus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Other parents shared their distress at finding out their kids were playing the "coronavirus game".
One mum tweeted: "My son (at a rural primary) explained the rules of the 'coronavirus game' to me last week.
"Basically tag x stuck in the mud.
"This is how kids process current affairs and fears."
Fears grow around the spread of coronavirus.
The UK saw a huge spike in the number of cases over the weekend and this afternoon the total hit 40.
Public health chiefs have today said that a widespread coronavirus transmission in the UK is now "likely", as Boris Johnson chaired an emergency Cobra meeting today.
He has insisted the government has a plan for "if and when" the virus spreads as "it looks likely it will".
Four more people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in England. The new cases had all travelled to Italy, which is suffering the biggest outbreak in Europe.
