A Chinese couple being treated for the coronavirus in Paris are both doing well, according to hospital doctors. The man and woman from Wuhan are two of the three patients in France who are confirmed to be suffering from the virus.

The update came as the decision was taken to cancel Sunday's Chinese New Year parades in Paris and Bordeaux.

Yazdan Yazdanpanah, who is the head of the infectious and tropical diseases department at the Bichat hospital in Paris, gave an update on Saturday evening on the two patients' condition: "A couple, a 31-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman of Chinese origin were admitted to Bichat hospital yesterday around noon for suspected coronavirus.

"These are patients who had fever and respiratory signs so they were treated as suspect patients. A diagnostic examination was done on both people and we got the results of the two tests and they were positive."

A 48-year-old man is also being looked after in hospital in Bordeaux. The mayor of the city, which cancelled its planned New Year parade on Sunday to limit risks of infection and show support for people in China, called for calm in the city. 

"Measures have been taken, we have a very organised response service for infectious diseases in the hospital," said Nicolas Florian. "People have been trained and the site is adapted to this. We should not give into panic but we should be vigilant."

Saturdays in Paris usually see queues around the block to visit popular tourist destinations such as the Louvre museum. This weekend has been no different with most people trying not to worry too much over the news that there are now confirmed cases in France.

Anne Le Razavet, who lives in Paris said "I'm not in a haste, there is no panic. I can also see that the government has the situation under control." 

And Capucine Degroote, another resident in the French capital, said "right now we don't really know how it is transmitted. We don't really know if it's like SARS or other coronaviruses, so I'm not that worried."

However, there were those who took precautions and some pharmacies in Paris sold out of face masks. The French health secretary has underlined the measures that the country is putting in place.

She said that anyone suffering from the symptoms should not to go to hospital but should ring for help instead. Special teams are being readied to attend to people at home to lessen the risk of others being infected in hospital.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that the decision had been taken to cancel the city's planned new year celebrations after she met with the Chinese community in Paris.

"They are very emotional and concerned and they have decided to cancel the parade that was scheduled for this afternoon at Place de la Republique," Hidalgo said on Europe 1 radio.

"They are really not in a mood to party now," she added.