First death from coronavirus confirmed in Europe

16:17, 15.02.2020

A Chinese tourist has died in France after contracting the new coronavirus – the first fatality from the disease outside Asia.

The victim was an 80-year-old man from China’s Hubei province, according to French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn.

He arrived in France on 16 January and was placed in quarantine in a hospital in Paris on 25 January, she said, as reported by BBC.

Only three deaths had previously been reported outside mainland China – in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan.

However, more than 1,500 people have died from the virus within China, mostly in Hubei where it first emerged.

A further 2,641 people have been newly confirmed as infected, bringing China’s total to 66,492.