A university lecturer conducted a social experiment, where he wore a face mask in public to see how the public would react.
According to DerbyshireLive, John Collins, who lectures at Nottingham Trent University, said he was met with an "offensive and racist" reaction when he went the town of Burton-upon-Trent wearing the mask.
He shared his findings on Twitter, saying how he sympathised with Chinese nationals living in the UK.
Mr Collins tweeted: "As a little social experiment, I brought a touch of #Beijing to #Burton this morning to test the reaction.
"The very first person who could say something offensive and racist, did exactly that.
"Must be such a tough time for many Chinese people in the U.K. #CoronavirusOutbreak"
This comes as Public Health England warns that widespread transmission of coronavirus in the UK is now "highly likely" and the amount of people confirmed to have the virus has jumped to 85 (as of March 4).
The virus originated in China, where over 80,000 cases have been reported, including almost 3,000 deaths.
Travellers have been advised by the government to avoid contact with people if they have travelled to the UK from a number of countries.
These include areas of China, such as the Hubei province, Iran, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Tailwan, Thailand, as well as northern parts of Italy.
Symptoms of coronavirus include coughing, high temperature and shortness of breath.
