‘prompted by coronavirus fears’

are mindful that we are an international school and that we have pupils from China here.

“All our Chinese pupils were here on January 4 for the start of term on the next day and none of them are displaying any symptoms of the coronavirus.

“Given the 14-day incubation period of the coronavirus, we are able to say that none of our pupils are affected.

“Moreover, all of our Chinese students have agreed to stay here for the upcoming half-term break and not to return to China.

“Any visitors will be monitored and their travel itinerary scrutinised to avoid any problems.

“I hope the egg attack and the false rumours prove to be just isolated incidents as we normally enjoy a very close and positive relationship with the town and its people.” ■ Meanwhile, in the city, two University of Leicester students have also reported suffering verbal racism linked to the coronavirus.

The Leicester Students Union confirmed the incident.

A LSU spokesperson said: “We are extremely disappointed to hear of incidents of racism against Chinese and/or East Asian students on campus here at Leicester.

“There is absolutely no place for racism on our campus and we are deeply sorry to our students who have had to endure this.

“No student should be subject to such mistreatment, as it contravenes the university’s own dignity and respect policy.

“The incidents unfortunately involved comments regarding coronavirus, which highlights how sensationalised the discourse surrounding the virus generally has been, where people have used ‘health concerns’ as a very thin veil for their racism.

“People are right to be concerned but it is vital that these are based on fact and truth, and that we do not give in to hysterical fear-mongering.”