Oil giant Saudi Aramco has come under fire after photos showing one of its migrant workers wearing a surgical mask and a large hand-sanitiser dispenser went viral on social media, reports Al Jazeera Online.

While some described the move as slavery "repackaged", others said the person behind the idea needed to "sanitise their brain", reports the Al Jazeera piece.

In a statement released later on Tuesday, the company expressed its "strong dissatisfaction with this abusive behaviour that was used to emphasise the importance of sanitisation, without the approval of the company's concerned party".

"The company immediately stopped this act and took strict measures to prevent it from happening again," the statement said.

In response to Aramco's statement, a Twitter user said the company needed to apologise to the "person himself", not to the public.

Saudi Arabia has often been slammed for its treatment of migrant workers, reports Al Jazeera.

Migrants make up a large chunk of the workforce across the region, including the Gulf Cooperation Council bloc of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

In December 2019, Aramco's record initial public offering gave it a price tag of $1.7 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company, Al Jazeera wrote.

But its shares have fallen more than 11 percent since the start of the year amid concerns the new coronavirus outbreak will slow oil demand from China and hurt the global economy.

The coronavirus outbreak has continued to spread across at least 100 countries. According to the World Health Organization, more than 118,000 cases of the virus have been confirmed globally, and more than 4,200 deaths have been recorded, says Al Jazeera.