Paris: The first death from coronavirus outside Asia was reported in France, where a Chinese tourist succumbed to the disease.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said on Saturday that the victim was an 80-year-old tourist who came from China’s Hubei province and died on Friday, the BBC reported.
The victim came to France on January 16 and was quarantined at a hospital in Paris on January 25.
While the overall death toll in China due to the deadly virus increased to 1,523 on Saturday, only three deaths had been previously reported outside mainland China — in Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines.
France has so far had 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The deceased person was critical and was admitted to the Bichat hospital in Paris, the BBC reported. According to Buzyn, the man’s daughter is among those infected, but she is recovering.
In an announcement on Saturday, authorities in Beijing ordered everyone returning to the Chinese capital to go into quarantine for 14 days or risk punishment, the BBC reported.
Meanwhile, Egypt has reported the country’s first coronavirus case, which is also the first in the African continent, the country’s Health Ministry announced in a joint statement with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The statement issued on Friday said the patient was a foreigner, without giving any further details, reported Cairo-based daily Al Ahram.
As of Friday, the number of reported cases outside of China were in Japan (203), Hong Kong (56), Singapore (50), Thailand (33), South Korea (28), Taiwan (18), Malaysia (18), Germany (16), Vietnam (16), Australia (15), the US (14), France (11), Macau (10), the UK (nine), the UAE (eight), Canada (seven), India (three), the Philippines (three), Italy (three), Russia (two), Spain (two), Cambodia (one), Finland (one), Nepal (one), Sri Lanka (one), Sweden (one) and Belgium (one), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
