Chinese leaders in Greater Manchester say children in schools across the region are being bullied about coronavirus.
Jenny Wong, director of Manchester Chinese Centre, says she has received scores of complaints about the racist incidents.
She says parents have raised the issue during the centre's legal and welfare drop in sessions.
The 63-year-old has a long list, written in Mandarin, of incidents reported to staff at the centre in Ardwick.
And it is bringing back painful memories of the shocking racist abuse she suffered as a child.
"When the children go to school they are bullied by their classmates. The first case I heard was about a little girl in a primary school in north Manchester.
"Her best friend told her 'my mum told me I'm not allowed to play with Chinese children anymore because you are the virus carrier'", Jenny tells the Manchester Evening News.
"At a school in Oldham, classmates said 'keep away from the Chinese, they are all poisoned by the virus'".
"At a school in Lancaster, one of the Chinese students helped the children fundraise (for an event).
"His mum made some fried rice for him, but unfortunately the students said 'don't eat this fried rice, it is poisoned by the Chinese', which is ridiculous."
Parents have come to Jenny to ask for advice, and she has told them to raise the issue with their head teacher as a matter of urgency.
She thinks teachers need to be re-educating the pupils that not all Chinese children carry the virus.
More than 28,000 cases of the virus, which was first reported in the Wuhan province of China, have been confirmed globally since the outbreak.
Of those, 563 have died.
Just three cases have been confirmed in the UK.
But the spread of the virus has fueled hostility towards the Chinese community living in Britain.
Jenny says she has heard that some Chinese businesses - such as restaurants and takeaways - have been impacted as customers steer clear.
One takeaway boss reported to the centre that a delivery driver came in to his premises wearing a mask.
When asked why he did that, he said it was his company's policy to wear one whenever he entered a Chinese takeaway.
Manchester Chinese Centre also received a call from a stranger saying they were concerned that the virus could be spread through the sewers.
The man suggested staff at the centre 'eat raw garlic' to avoid killing 'wild animals'.
It was an absurd claim, but one that highlights the growing animosity towards the Chinese community.
Does she believe these incidents amount to racism?
"Yes definitely. It leaves people feeling awful. There's a panic."
Jenny, who has been director of the centre since 2005, says there is also fear within the Chinese community that they will spread the virus among each other.
Many people believe what is shared online about them, and so they isolate themselves from the community.
"For the Chinese parents, they panic as well. So they don't want to visit their friends and relatives. They don't even want to go outside, which is ridiculous.
"If their children are OK and nothing happens, why do they want their children walking about and wearing masks and make themselves stand out? I just want to live normally, like you, like everybody."
Manchester Chinese Centre runs a supplementary school at the weekend for more than 450 pupils to gain qualifications in Mandarin and other subjects.
But due to pressure from parents (who are mainly Chinese), they had to shut the school for two weeks over fears about coronavirus.
It will reopen on Saturday.
The 63-year-old, from Didsbury, says she 'respects' the concerns of the parents, but she 'wasn't happy' about the decision.
"A lot of parents are panicking, they pass it down to their children. They are worried about the virus, that we will pass it on to their children.
"We will soldier on. We have children doing GCSEs and A-levels. We set the programme, we cannot close the school down until Easter - that's what some parents suggested.
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"So now the worst thing is, they don't want to go out, they don't want to put all the Chinese children together."
The centre also hosts a weekly opera group, attended by around 60 elderly members of the Chinese community.
It has also been cancelled due to fears about coronavirus.
"The elderly opera group, which is mainly retired Chinese people, say they want to stop, just in case they are going to catch the virus off each other.
"Suddenly they say they are going to have to stop this club running. If you live normally as a human being, why do you have to worry?"
She believes Chinese businesses will bounce back from the lack of custom. Her main concern is about the impact of the bullying in schools on children.
"That will have a long term effect on the children's confidence. Business is OK, it will come and go. It's fine if it's quiet for a few months and it will come back.
"What happens with the children is if they've got hurt or harmed, who is going to pick it up?"
Jenny says the bullying reminds her of the racist abuse she suffered herself, when she was a high school pupil in Newcastle in the 1970s.
She moved to the north east from Hong Kong when she was about 14.
Her music teacher would mock her in class by playing a racist song on the piano. It encouraged her peers to bully her.
She says she was beaten up by her classmates, had her bra strap and hair cut with scissors, and was even threatened at knife point after she complained to the head teacher.
"They waited for me outside the school gates. They kicked me, pulled me down to a drain. They said If I tell the head teacher again I would be dead."
The 63-year-old is saddened by the impact the latest outbreak is having on the day to day lives of members of the Chinese community.
Some people are afraid to go outdoors.
"They say 'we all have to stay at home, we all have to hide away'. That's really frightening. It has influenced their emotional feeling. It's having a big impact. They are isolating themselves."
