PARIS, Feb 15, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – An 80-year-old Chinese tourist has died
from the new coronavirus in France, the first death confirmed outside of
Asia, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said on Saturday.
Buzyn said she had been told about the death of the patient — in hospital
in Paris since late January — late on Friday, adding that his condition “had
deteriorated rapidly” after several critical days.
The virus originated late last year in China, where it has since infected
more than 66,000 people and killed more than 1,500.
Three deaths from the virus have so far been recorded outside mainland
China — in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.
The scale of the epidemic ballooned this week after officials in the
Chinese province of Hubei — the epicentre of the outbreak — changed their
criteria for counting cases, adding thousands of new patients to the tally.
Some 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan are now living under
quarantine, virtually sealed off from the rest of the country in an effort to
contain the virus.
Away from China, almost 600 cases have been confirmed — roughly 35 of
which have been reported in the European Union.
Six people with the virus remain in hospital in France, Buzyn said, adding
that none were seriously ill.