CALGARY -- A large number of people participated in the opening night for the Chinese New Year celebration in Calgary.

The city's Chinatown district was done up in red for the Year of the Rat and visitors enjoyed firecrackers, music as well as traditional lion and dragon dances.

The rat is the first animal on the Chinese calendar and is seen as a symbol of wealth and abundance.

Organizers say the festival isn't just for Chinese-Calgarians and everyone is invited to take part.

"I'm pretty sure every Chinese member in our community are doing something different and fun," said Tina Mao with the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre.

"In general, we are celebrating the welcoming of a new year together. So this year, we're very honoured, we are not just celebrating by ourselves, we have invited the Calgary Stampede and some new partners to join us. So we celebrate together in Calgary."

Lunar New Year celebrations will continue for 15 days leading up to the Lantern Festival.

'Serious attitude' towards coronavirus threat

While many people who attended Lunar New Year celebrations in Calgary managed to forget the growing health concern in Wuhan, China, officials say they are taking the situation seriously.

"Everybody can see, for the Chinese government, we have taken a serious attitude towards this and we have taken quite a practical and constructive measures up to now," said Madam Lu Xu, consul general of the People's Republic of China in Calgary.

Canada's first case of the virus was confirmed in Toronto Saturday afternoon when a 50-year-old man, who came back to the city from Wuhan via a connecting flight, was admitted to hospital with symptoms.

Health officials say, despite the "presumptive case" of the virus, the risk to Canadians remains low.

Hong Kong has also declared a state of emergency over the outbreak and a number of other countries, including Australia, Malaysia and France, also have confirmed cases of the illness.

Two people in the United States have also been hospitalized after they were believed to have contracted the virus.