Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

AsiaWire

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer has sacked a Chinese-Australian employee after she returned to Beijing and defied quarantine laws to go jogging in an incident seen 885 million times on social media.

The German multinational released a statement announcing her dismissal yesterday (17th March), and it has already been liked 1.7 million times in under 24 hours.

The sacking came a few hours after a hugely viral video showed the as yet unnamed Chinese-roots Australian jogging through a residential district where she lives while being confronted by a community worker.

According to reports, she had returned to the Chinese capital during the coronavirus outbreak but defied health regulations which require her to observe 14-days of mandatory quarantine.

The breathless woman in jogging gear, who is also not wearing a face mask, can be seen quarrelling with the community worker as he reminds her she is not permitted to leave her home.

China which has seen few new cases of COVID-19 has introduced a 14-day quarantine for all people arriving into the country to prevent any reinfections.

During the exchange, the woman tries to open the front door of her home but repeatedly punches the wrong numbers into the keypad.

As the persistent health worker warns her and threatens to call the police, the jogger shouts: “I want to speak to your leader!”

She then adds: “Help! I’m being harassed!”

The woman is later visited by the police, who tell her: “Nobody is above the law, regardless of whether you’re Chinese or not.”

Bayer’s statement said the staff member was identified shortly after the incident and dismissed, “effective immediately”.

It added that it supported the Chinese government’s disease prevention efforts, and has asked its employees to strictly adhere to public health guidelines.

The announcement was greeted overwhelming positively by Chinese online commenters.

On China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo, hashtags about the woman’s stunt and subsequent dismissal have been seen more than 885 million times.

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