NEW YORK - The New York Police Department has launched an Asian Hate Crime Task Force specifically created to handle the rising spate of racist attacks against Asian Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic in the city.

There have been 21 reported Asian-targeted racist attacks that led to 17 arrests since March 21 in the period when the Covid-19 pandemic was picking up pace across the US.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said that the number of cases was higher than usual.

By contrast, Asians faced only three hate crime incidents the same time last year, New York-based news portal Gothamist reported.

"This increase was cultivated due to the anti-Asian rhetoric about the virus that was publicised and individuals began to attack Asian New Yorkers, either verbal attack or physical assault," Harrison said on Twitter. "We saw a spike in every borough throughout the city."

Harrison noted that 4 of the 17 arrests were done with the help of the task force.

Still, victims have often been reluctant to follow up with investigators because of language barriers, cultural differences and fear of the police.

Deputy Inspector Stewart Loo, who first floated the idea of creating the task force in May, said police had to "actively" search for victims after they observed a "very disturbing trend" of videos circulating online that showed verbal and physical assaults of Asian Americans, USA Today reported.

He said the special task force will include 25 Asian Asian American officers who will be able to build a rapport with victims in their native language.

Asian American civil rights groups have welcomed the task force but highlighted the need to address the issue of racism at its roots.

"We applaud the NYPD for creating this task force... We also believe in restorative justice principles, which include building community within neighbourhoods, getting neighbours to look out for each other, and investing in social safety net programs that deal with the stresses in the community that propel people to lash out at each other," co-executive directors of Asian Americans for Equality Jennifer Sun and Thomas Yu said in a statement to USA Today.