Brussels (AFP)

A 12-year-old girl died in Belgium from Covid-19, a very rare case of death in a patient of this age, the country's health authorities announced on Tuesday during their daily review of the pandemic.

Never before during this pandemic have the authorities of a European country reported the death of such a young child.

"This is an event which is very rare, but which upsets us," said Dr Emmanuel André, one of the spokespersons of the Belgian health authorities, announcing with great emotion this death which occurred on Monday.

The victim was a schoolgirl from the De Harp establishment in Ghent (north-west), the Flemish city said in a press release, deploring a "particularly tragic" disappearance.

"It is important to know that she had not been to school since March 13 and had not had contact with her educational team since then," said the same source.

Belgian schools are closed for the third week in a row to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The young victim apparently had no health problems before being infected with this lung virus, according to the Flemish public channel VRT.

"After three days of fever," her condition "suddenly deteriorated," another spokesperson for the health authorities, Steven Van Gucht, told reporters.

Last week, the death of a 16-year-old French teenager in Paris had aroused great emotion in France.

Deaths due to Covid-19 disease are fortunately exceptional among the youngest, but "severe forms of the disease resulting in hospitalization, including intensive care, or leading to death can occur in adults of all ages" , warned US health officials in a report.

In Belgium, where a total of 705 people died from the new coronavirus, 93% of deaths concern people over 65, said Dr Van Gucht.

In this country of 11.4 million inhabitants, the authorities recorded Tuesday 12,775 confirmed cases of new coronavirus. A total of 4,920 people were hospitalized, including 1,021 in intensive care.

The figure of 705 deaths represents a jump of almost 40% compared to the 513 counts Monday by the crisis unit of the health authorities.

There were 98 additional deaths in the hospital in 24 hours, to which were added 94 others intervened in previous days in retirement homes and which had not yet been counted, a- he was underlined at the press conference.

In the United States, 20-44 year olds represent 29% of confirmed cases, 20% of patients hospitalized for Covid-19 and 12% of cases admitted to intensive care, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ) covering 2,500 patients listed until March 16.

Those under 20 were much less present, with less than 1% of hospitalizations and no intensive care patient.

However, a baby under the age of one died from Covid-19 in the US state of Illinois, state officials said on Saturday.

In France, among the nearly 14,000 cases confirmed as of March 20, 30.6% were between 15 and 44 years old, according to data published Thursday by Santé publique France.

"Ghent and the whole country are united in immense sadness," said the bourgmestre (mayor) of the city Mathias De Clercq, asking the media to refrain from contacting the relatives and classmates of the young victim.

© 2020 AFP