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HEALTH-VIRUS-FRANCE-DOCTOR-DEATH
First French hospital doctor dies of coronavirus
PARIS, March 22, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – France on Sunday reported its first
death of a hospital doctor from coronavirus.
Health Minister Olivier Veran said that as far as he knew the man — who
died on Saturday — was the “first hospital doctor to be hit”.
The accident and emergency practitioner worked at a hospital in Compiegne,
north of Paris, AFP was able to confirm.
Veran refused to give any more information about the victim, saying
details were being withheld for medical reasons and to respect the wishes of
the doctor’s family.
Compiegne is in the Oise department, the first area in France to be badly
hit by the outbreak.
With a controversy raging about the lack of protective masks for medical
staff in France, Veran said most of the medical staff who will contract the
virus will be infected outside of their work.
The minister said that although protection for frontline staff was
“absolutely indispensable”, there had been several cases of doctors and
nurses falling ill when they were equipped with masks.
The virus has so far killed 562 people in France with a further 6,172 in
hospital, of whom a quarter are in a serious condition in intensive care.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1950 hrs