diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/RatisOverReplicationHandler.java b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/RatisOverReplicationHandler.java
index 982325d500f7..d3bef7d9e2e1 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/RatisOverReplicationHandler.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/RatisOverReplicationHandler.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.PlacementPolicy;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.container.ContainerInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.container.ContainerReplica;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.node.NodeManager;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ozone.protocol.commands.DeleteContainerCommand;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ozone.protocol.commands.SCMCommand;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -52,8 +53,12 @@ public class RatisOverReplicationHandler
   public static final Logger LOG =
       LoggerFactory.getLogger(RatisOverReplicationHandler.class);
 
-  public RatisOverReplicationHandler(PlacementPolicy placementPolicy) {
+  private final NodeManager nodeManager;
+
+  public RatisOverReplicationHandler(PlacementPolicy placementPolicy,
+      NodeManager nodeManager) {
     super(placementPolicy);
+    this.nodeManager = nodeManager;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -79,6 +84,20 @@ public Map<DatanodeDetails, SCMCommand<?>> processAndCreateCommands(
     ContainerInfo containerInfo = result.getContainerInfo();
     LOG.debug("Handling container {}.", containerInfo);
 
+    // We are going to check for over replication, so we should filter out any
+    // replicas that are not in a HEALTHY state. This is because a replica can
+    // be healthy, stale or dead. If it is dead is will be quickly removed from
+    // scm. If it is state, there is a good chance the DN is offline and the
+    // replica will go away soon. So, if we have a container that is over
+    // replicated with a HEALTHY and STALE replica, and we decide to delete the
+    // HEALTHY one, and then the STALE ones goes away, we will lose them both.
+    // To avoid this, we will filter out any non-healthy replicas first.
+    Set<ContainerReplica> healthyReplicas = replicas.stream()
+        .filter(r -> ReplicationManager.getNodeStatus(
+            r.getDatanodeDetails(), nodeManager).isHealthy()
+        )
+        .collect(Collectors.toSet());
+
     // count pending adds and deletes
     int pendingAdd = 0, pendingDelete = 0;
     for (ContainerReplicaOp op : pendingOps) {
@@ -89,8 +108,9 @@ public Map<DatanodeDetails, SCMCommand<?>> processAndCreateCommands(
       }
     }
     RatisContainerReplicaCount replicaCount =
-        new RatisContainerReplicaCount(containerInfo, replicas, pendingAdd,
-            pendingDelete, containerInfo.getReplicationFactor().getNumber(),
+        new RatisContainerReplicaCount(containerInfo, healthyReplicas,
+            pendingAdd, pendingDelete,
+            containerInfo.getReplicationFactor().getNumber(),
             minHealthyForMaintenance);
 
     // verify that this container is actually over replicated
diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/ReplicationManager.java b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/ReplicationManager.java
index 6f93e81ead0d..665f58fa73bb 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/ReplicationManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/ReplicationManager.java
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ public ReplicationManager(final ConfigurationSource conf,
     ratisUnderReplicationHandler = new RatisUnderReplicationHandler(
         ratisContainerPlacement, conf, nodeManager);
     ratisOverReplicationHandler =
-        new RatisOverReplicationHandler(ratisContainerPlacement);
+        new RatisOverReplicationHandler(ratisContainerPlacement, nodeManager);
     underReplicatedProcessor =
         new UnderReplicatedProcessor(this,
             rmConf.getUnderReplicatedInterval());
diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/TestRatisOverReplicationHandler.java b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/TestRatisOverReplicationHandler.java
index 46e844d9a70e..0bf0f1d7464f 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/TestRatisOverReplicationHandler.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/replication/TestRatisOverReplicationHandler.java
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.container.ContainerInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.container.ContainerReplica;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.container.placement.algorithms.ContainerPlacementStatusDefault;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.node.NodeManager;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.node.NodeStatus;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdds.scm.node.states.NodeNotFoundException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ozone.protocol.commands.SCMCommand;
 import org.apache.ozone.test.GenericTestUtils;
@@ -56,6 +58,7 @@ public class TestRatisOverReplicationHandler {
   private static final RatisReplicationConfig RATIS_REPLICATION_CONFIG =
       RatisReplicationConfig.getInstance(HddsProtos.ReplicationFactor.THREE);
   private PlacementPolicy policy;
+  private NodeManager nodeManager;
 
   @Before
   public void setup() throws NodeNotFoundException {
@@ -67,6 +70,10 @@ public void setup() throws NodeNotFoundException {
         Mockito.anyList(), Mockito.anyInt()))
         .thenReturn(new ContainerPlacementStatusDefault(2, 2, 3));
 
+    nodeManager = Mockito.mock(NodeManager.class);
+    Mockito.when(nodeManager.getNodeStatus(Mockito.any()))
+        .thenReturn(NodeStatus.inServiceHealthy());
+
     GenericTestUtils.setLogLevel(RatisOverReplicationHandler.LOG, Level.DEBUG);
   }
 
@@ -88,6 +95,23 @@ public void testOverReplicatedClosedContainer() throws IOException {
         1);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Container has 4 replicas and 1 stale so none should be deleted.
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testOverReplicatedClosedContainerWithStale() throws IOException,
+      NodeNotFoundException {
+    Set<ContainerReplica> replicas = createReplicas(container.containerID(),
+        ContainerReplicaProto.State.CLOSED, 0, 0, 0, 0);
+
+    ContainerReplica stale = replicas.stream().findFirst().get();
+    Mockito.when(nodeManager.getNodeStatus(stale.getDatanodeDetails()))
+        .thenReturn(NodeStatus.inServiceStale());
+
+    testProcessing(replicas, Collections.emptyList(),
+        getOverReplicatedHealthResult(), 0);
+  }
+
   /**
    * The container is quasi closed. All 4 replicas are quasi closed and
    * originate from the same datanode. This container is over replicated.
@@ -261,7 +285,7 @@ private Map<DatanodeDetails, SCMCommand<?>> testProcessing(
       ContainerHealthResult healthResult,
       int expectNumCommands) throws IOException {
     RatisOverReplicationHandler handler =
-        new RatisOverReplicationHandler(policy);
+        new RatisOverReplicationHandler(policy, nodeManager);
 
     Map<DatanodeDetails, SCMCommand<?>> commands =
         handler.processAndCreateCommands(replicas, pendingOps,