Paris (AFP)

The first Frenchman, a 60-year-old man, died after being infected with the new coronavirus, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in Paris, and the discovery of new cases is accelerating in France, with five identified since Tuesday.

For the moment, the balance sheet of the Covid-19 disease in France is two dead (the Frenchman of 60 years and a Chinese tourist of 80 years), eleven cures and four patients still hospitalized, that is to say 17 cases in total.

In addition to the deceased 60-year-old, two new cases were confirmed Wednesday, in addition to the two already announced Tuesday evening. No case had been spotted in France since February 15, but in the meantime, the disease has spread to Italy, a border country which is also the most affected in Europe.

"The 17th confirmed case (in France) is a 60-year-old French man who was urgently tested yesterday at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in a very serious state and who unfortunately died during the night," announced the ministry's N.2, Jérôme Salomon, at a press conference.

Among the cases announced Wednesday is "a 55-year-old French man currently hospitalized in Amiens and who is in a serious clinical situation (...) in intensive care," said Prof Salomon.

The other is "a 36-year-old French man hospitalized in Strasbourg", who "shows no sign of seriousness", he continued, indicating that this patient was returning from Lombardy, one of the Italian regions affected by illness.

The two cases announced Tuesday evening were a Chinese woman who returned from China on February 7, hospitalized in Paris without "any clinical sign of seriousness", and a "man in his sixties years hospitalized in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after repeated stays in Lombardy ", for whom there is also no sign of gravity, recalled Jérôme Salomon.

Finally, children from a "Courbevoie school group returning from a trip to Lombardy" were also tested because some showed symptoms, but the results are "negative".

- Fears about football -

In addition, the crisis in Italy has caused fears around the football match which will oppose Wednesday night Olympique Lyonnais to Juventus Turin in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

From Marine Le Pen to Ségolène Royal, several opposition figures criticized the authorization given to supporters of Juventus to go to Lyon, an authorization still defended by the government and the majority.

"I think it is not reasonable to welcome them and that we are still faced with an inconsistency on the part of the government," denounced the president of the National Rally Marine Le Pen on France Inter.

On the left, Ségolène Royal estimated on France 2 that this decision "seems incoherent" and that "opinion does not understand it".

"Today, health watch and public health experts say it is not necessary" to prohibit the arrival of supporters, said on BFMTV Gabriel Attal, Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education.

"Is the virus actively circulating in Turin? No. Is it actively circulating in the Turin region? No", he argued.

Tuesday evening, after a meeting in Rome with several of his European colleagues, Olivier Véran had confirmed that France, like the other neighboring countries of Italy, did not intend to close the borders, judging that 'it would be a disproportionate measure.

Finally, fears about the spread of the coronavirus are also felt on air bookings: those from France to Asia, excluding China, the cradle of the epidemic, collapsed by 68.5% in the week of 12 February, according to the ForwardKeys design office.

© 2020 AFP