there were particularly high incidence of cases in central Oldham areas, where there is a high proportion of people from the south Asian community."There are people who are racist, they think 'because of them, we have to be in lockdown'.
The next Bangladeshi person you see could then become a target", Mr Mahmood said.Mufti Helal Mahmood MBE, an officer from Oldham Mosque Council, agreed."There's been a huge spike in Islamophobic hate crime and racial tension within the community.
We are encouraging people to report it to local mosques. The latest incident I have heard is that (Muslims) have been going into shops and people say 'stay away from those people, they are the cause of coronavirus'", he said."On social media there are constantly.