French Official Confirms First Coronavirus Death Outside Asia
Written by SOURCE on February 15, 2020
As the death toll for the coronavirus continues to climb in mainland China, a French official has confirmed the first death outside of Asia. USA Today reports an 80-year-old Chinese tourist from the province of Hubei was hospitalized in Paris on Jan. 25, but he died on Friday. His daughter was also placed under isolation, but she is expected to recover. This brings the total number of deaths to 1,527, as the ECDC confirms.
There’s a total of 46 cases of the virus in Europe across nine countries, while North America currently has 23 reported cases. Individuals with the virus in mainland China, however, rose to 66,492 on Saturday, and the worldwide total sits at 67,104. The death toll in mainland China has also continued to increase, rising to a total of 1523. One patient has died in Hong Kong, another in the Philippines, and one in Japan.
Despite this, new infections have been falling in China following the mid-week surge that arrived after the nation changed the way cases were counted.
Meanwhile, the United States announced it would evacuate nearly 400 American passengers under quarantine on board the Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess off the coast of Japan. The cruise is currently the largest group of patients with coronavirus outside of mainland China, with a total of 221 passengers testing positive. In total, the cruise had 2,666 guests on board when it set sail.
