AN 80-YEAR-OLD man in Paris has become the first person outside of Asia to die from Coronavirus.
France’s health minister Agnes Buzyn confirmed that an elderly Chinese tourist who has so far not been named succumbed “to a pulmonary infection with coronavirus” in a Paris hospital.
The elderly man was being kept in isolation at the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital at the time of his death.
He had previously been admitted to the north Paris hospital on January 25 after falling ill.
According to Ms Buzyn, the man had arrived in France from Hubei nine days earlier.
“His condition had deteriorated rapidly and he had been in a critical condition for several days before being taken into intensive care,” she said.
“This is the first death from the coronavirus outside Asia, the first death in Europe.”
To date, France has witnessed 11 recorded cases of coronavirus.
This number include’s the elderly Chinese man’s daughter who is said to be making a good recovery.
“Her state of health is no longer cause for concern and she should be able to be released soon,” Ms Buzyn said.
There have been 66,492 confirmed cases across the world, including the first in Africa.
China remains the worst hit, with the death toll reaching 1,523.
Only three deaths have been recorded outside of China in Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines.
Nine people have been admitted to hospital in the UK with the virus but none so far have proven fatal.
65 people have been tested for coronavirus in Ireland so far.
All of the results so far have come back negative.
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