PARIS (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - As the number of Covid-19 cases rise each day, fears of the global outbreak have brought about travel bans and other government protocols.

Some pepole, however, seem to be dealing with the pandemic in unpleasant ways.

In what has been dubbed as an act of racism, a Japanese restaurant in Paris was vandalised with "coronavirus" graffiti. Twitter user @Lecoachjp, a Japanese French national, shared photos of the vandalism via Twitter on Monday (Feb 17).

"Asian French, or Japanese, are being targeted for racial discrimination because of the coronavirus!" @Leocoachjp was quoted as saying in Japanese by Sora News 24. "This time a Japanese restaurant has been graffitied! As a French person, this makes me so sad to see."

The exterior walls and windows of Japanese restaurant Yuki can be seen defaced with the words "coronavirus" and "virus" graffitied in large letters, along with a big splash of light-blue paint on the door. The restaurant is located at Paris' Rue de la Michodiere.

The owners have since removed the writing and filed a police complaint, as per France Bleu on Feb 16.

There are now more than 70,000 confirmed cases worldwide of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that originated from Wuhan, China, in December.