France on Saturday reported the death in Paris of an 80 year-old Chinese tourist from COVID-19.
This is the first death France and in Europe of a person infected with this new disease. The death is also the first outside Asia and the fourth worldwide outside China after deaths in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.
Minister for Solidarity and Health Agnès Buzyn said this elderly man from Hubei province died Friday evening at the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris.
"I was informed yesterday night of the death of a Chinese tourist aged 80, who was hospitalized in Bichat Hospital, Paris, since 25 January," she said. "He died from a pulmonary infection from coronavirus."
Buzyn revealed this Chinese patient from Hubei arrived in France on January 16. He was hospitalized at Bichat on January 25 and placed under strict isolation measures to no avail.
"His condition rapidly got worse and he had been in a critical situation for several days in intensive care," according to Buzyn."His daughter also has the Covid-19 virus and is also hospitalised at Bichat. Her health condition is not causing concern anymore and she should be released soon."
On Friday, the first COVID-19 infection was reported in Africa when Egypt confirmed a case. This is the first confirmed Covid-19 case on the African continent and, again, the person in question is a Chinese national.
As of 3:02 p.m., Saturday, Hong Kong time, the official toll from COVID-19 worldwide stands at 67,169 cases (of which 66,492 are in mainland China) with 1,527 deaths (of which 1,523 are in mainland China). China's National Health Commission (NHC) reports 8,141 people have recovered from the disease.
On Friday, Beijing announced strict new rules for returnees in its latest attempt to contain COVID-19. Anyone returning to Beijing will be subject to a 14-day quarantine or risk punishment, said the Beijing provincial government.
China's virus prevention working group warned there will be legal consequences for those that don't comply with the self-imposed 14-day quarantine. Beijing officials are concerned COVID-19 will spread further as migrants return to their jobs in cities or other provinces on Monday after a Lunar New Year holiday extended for one week due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Worldwide, COVID-19 has been confirmed in 29 countries and territories. In Europe, these countries are Germany (16 cases); France (11 cases and one death); Italy (3 cases); Russia (2 cases); Spain (2 cases) and Belgium, Finland and Sweden (1 case each). Only three countries outside China have reported death due to COVID-19: the Philippines, Hong Kong and France.
