An 80-year-old Chinese tourist died on the night of Friday the 14th in Paris, France, where he had been hospitalised at the end of January after contracting coronavirus. He is the first victim outside Asia and the first in Europe.
A Chinese tourist with Covid-19 — the official name for the new coronavirus — died on the night of Friday in Paris, France. He had been hospitalised at the end of January after contracting coronavirus. French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn confirmed the news at a press briefing on the morning of Saturday 15 February. He is the first victim outside Asia and the first in Europe.
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He was an eighty-year-old man admitted to Bichat hospital, in the north of Paris. The man had arrived in France on 16 January and had been hospitalised in isolation on 25 January. His daughter also tested positive for the new coronavirus, but doctors are optimistic about her condition.
The two, originally from Hubei — the Chinese province at the heart of the outbreak — were visiting Paris when the man fell ill and was taken to hospital. "His condition deteriorated rapidly and he had been in a critical state for days. The man died on Friday evening due to complications from a lung infection caused by Covid-19," Minister Buzyn declared.
At the end of January, France became the first European country to confirm suspected cases of coronavirus. To date, eleven people have been infected: six of them are still hospitalised — the daughter of the deceased man and five British tourists who contracted the virus at the Les Contamines-Montjoie ski resort — while four have been discharged after recovering.
During a press conference held on Saturday morning in Munich, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi declared that the situation in China is "under control". According to the minister, outside Hubei province the number of infections has fallen for eleven consecutive days and the number of people who have recovered has risen rapidly. "The mortality rate of coronavirus is 2.29 per cent in China and 0.55 per cent outside. This shows that the disease is treatable," he declared, adding that "China will emerge from this epidemic stronger" than before and that it "will become a stronger and more sustainable economy".
However, some data released on Friday painted a different picture, also revealing figures relating to the number of doctors who had died within China's borders. Six healthcare workers had died and 1,716 had been infected since the outbreak began. A situation that gives no impression of being under control. Local authorities had also struggled to supply hospitals with the medical equipment doctors needed to protect themselves, such as masks, gloves and gowns.
It is no coincidence that this weekend the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an investigation into China.
The latest reports reveal that confirmed coronavirus cases within China's borders have risen to nearly 66,500, with more than 1,500 deaths. There are over 580 confirmed infections outside mainland China and four deaths: one in the Philippines, one in Hong Kong, one in Japan and one in France.
Below is the number of infections by country:
