In France, where four people have been found to be infected by the corona virus, some people with Asian backgrounds feel that people are behaving badly against them.

- People have moved on when I go by bus, says the student Shenguen to French radio channel France inter.

In response, the hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus, "I am not a virus" has been launched, where people testify about how they have been treated badly.

"Hysteria" in Canada

Even in Canada, where it has been confirmed that a handful of people carry the virus, fear, panic and hysteria have been reported, Global News reports. On the Internet, people with a Chinese background testify that they have been exposed to racism.

"We have seen people talk about the dirty Chinese eating habits and who want everyone who has been to Asia to quarantine," Terri Chu told Global News.

After starting a name-gathering among parents - which requires schoolchildren who have traveled to China to stay home for 17 days - the leadership of a school in Ontario has expressed its concern over the racism to which the city's Chinese minority is subjected in a letter to parents.

- My friends with older children have had to explain to the children that people are scared and that scared people do nasty things, says Terri Chu.

Disinformation in the traces of the virus

In the panic that has arisen, some have also taken the opportunity to disseminate false information that Asian dishes or ingredients would carry on the corona virus. In Australia, the country's health authority has felt compelled to issue information that rumors are not correct.

This is not the first time East Asians have been subjected to racism in connection with virus outbreaks. According to sociology professor Ho-Fung Hung at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Canada, many Canadians with a Chinese background felt racist during the outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003.

Media's handling of the corona virus has also attracted worldwide attention. The French local newspaper Courrier Picard has apologized for putting a photo on an Asian woman in face mask with the words "Yellow Warning" in Sunday's newspaper.