The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. This week’s issue is written by Isabella Kwai, a reporter with the Australia bureau.

Recently, when Andy Miao takes the train to work in Sydney, he has noticed other people’s disapproving looks if he does not wear a face mask. Although he does not have the coronavirus, Mr. Miao, who is of Chinese heritage and grew up in Australia, knows it’s because of one reason: his ethnicity.

“It makes people like me who are very, very Australian feel like outsiders,” said Mr. Miao, 24, who returned from a trip to China earlier this month and has since seen jokes degrading Chinese people. “It’s definitely invoking a lot of past racial stereotypes.”

But as the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency after the virus spread to countries including Australia, he is worried about an outbreak of misinformation, panic and xenophobia.

The virus has killed more than 200 people, with nearly 10,000 cases reported, though in Australia there are just a handful of cases, and health officials have said that the risk of catching it for many Australians is low.