Paris (AFP)

Of the seventeen confirmed cases of infection with the new coronavirus in France since the end of January, a French and a Chinese died in Paris, 11 other patients are cured and four are hospitalized.

- A French and a deceased Chinese -

+ After several days in intensive care at Bichat hospital in Paris, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died on February 14. His death, announced the following day, was the very first officially registered in Europe.

Arrived in France on January 23, this man from Hubei province had initially consulted the emergency room without being identified as a suspect case because it did not meet the criteria. He had a fever but no cough or respiratory signs and was not from Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, but from a city 400 km to the north. He then developed breathing problems that prompted a change in his ranking and the test came back positive on January 28.

+ A 60-year-old Frenchman died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at the Pitié-Salpétrière hospital in Paris. It is the first death of a Frenchman contaminated by the new coronavirus.

He had been "tested in emergency" Tuesday "in a very serious state," said Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon, adding that an investigation had been launched in "emergency" to find out more.

- Eleven healings -

+ The 50-year-old daughter of the deceased Chinese tourist, infected and hospitalized in Bichat, was declared cured.

+ A Chinese couple, who was among the first cases announced on January 24, left the hospital on February 12. The 31-year-old man and 30-year-old woman from Wuhan arrived in France on January 18.

+ On February 13, a 48-year-old patient was able to go out after 22 days of hospitalization in Bordeaux. This man of Chinese origin had returned to France on January 22 after having notably passed through Wuhan. He had been hospitalized after presenting to SOS-Doctors with cough and fever. According to the medical team, he was treated with remdesivir, a "promising" antiviral.

+ A liberal doctor, contaminated by a Chinese patient then left for Taiwan where he declared the disease, left on February 14 from Pitié-Salpêtrière, in Paris. It was the first known case of transmission on French soil, announced on January 30.

+ Six British, including a child, had been contaminated by a compatriot returning from Singapore whom they had encountered in a chalet in Contamines-Montjoie (Haute-Savoie) where he had stayed a few days at the end of January before returning to his country. Hospitalized in Grenoble, Lyon and Saint-Etienne, they have all been able to come out since.

- Four hospitalized -

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced five new cases, including the first death of a Frenchman. The other four are still hospitalized.

+ A young Chinese woman who returned from China on February 7 is "hospitalized" in Paris without any clinical signs of seriousness. She tested negative for the new coronavirus but carried "traces of healing," according to the ministry.

+ A man in his sixties who had made "repeated stays" in Lombardy was hospitalized in the Auvergne-Rhône Alpes region, bordering Italy. There is no sign of gravity.

+ A 55-year-old Frenchman is hospitalized in Amiens "in a serious clinical situation (...) in intensive care", according to the ministry. The investigation into this case is ongoing.

+ A 36 year old Frenchman who returns from Lombardy is hospitalized in Strasbourg. There is no sign of gravity.

- More than 350 passages in quarantine -

Since the start of the epidemic, more than 350 people have been placed in quarantine in France after being repatriated from Wuhan in four waves: three planes chartered by France arrived on January 31, February 2 and February 21 with on board French and foreign nationals, and a flight operated by the British, via London, on February 9.

Some foreign passengers left directly for their country. French and foreigners who remained in France were confined for 14 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus, in three places.

The 225 welcomed in a holiday center in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône) have all already emerged, first 181 on February 14 and then 44 on February 16.

Of the 113 housed in a training center for firefighters in Aix-en-Provence, 78 left on February 16. The 35 people who arrived via London left on February 23.

The fourth wave of 28 French people arrived on February 21 in a holiday center in the village of Branville, in Calvados.

bur-abb-BC-fpo-abd / pr / ial / mm

© 2020 AFP