Residents of Uttar Pradesh’s ‘Korauna’ village are facing discrimination owing to the similarity between its name and the coronavirus pandemic, according to media reports.

Residents of the village said that they have faced discrimination and ostracisation in light of the coronavirus outbreak in the country as 'Korauna' bears a similarity to ‘corona’ virus.

Villagers said that people were unwilling to come out of their houses as they are “terrified”. People replied in disbelief on phone calls when villagers specified that they were from a village called “Korauna,” which in reality is a tiny village in UP’s Sitapur district with a population of 9,000, TOI reported.

This is not the first instance of discrimination against a namesake of the coronavirus. Earlier in February, the coronavirus had taken its toll on the consumer perception of the popular lager brand Corona Beer.

The spread of misinformation linking the lager brand to the spread of coronavirus on social media had impacted its overall perception amid consumers according to media reports. As per a report by digital marketing tool SemRush, the search for terms such as “corona beer virus” had spiked over January.

A survey by 5W Public Relations said that 38 per cent of Americans would purchase Corona "under any circumstances" due to the outbreak, and another 14 per cent said they wouldn't order a Corona in public. The survey was based on a sample of 737 beer drinkers in the US.

The Covid-19 pandemic has infected over 7,00,000 people worldwide with the global death toll surpassing 30,000 as per reports. India has reported 942 active cases of Covid-19 with the death toll at 29 as of Monday morning according to the Union Health Ministry.

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