A laboratory worker working in a medical research centre in France amidst coronavirus (COVID-19) infection epidemic. Photo credit AFP

60-year-old high school teacher becomes France’s first coronavirus victim

2 coronavirus victims in France – 1 French national, 1 Chinese tourist

11 people have recovered from the infection in France

The infection has killed than 2600 people globally and infected 80,000 others, mainly in China

A 60-year-old teacher has become France’s first coronavirus (COVID-19) victim, according to the Ministry of Health, France.

The teacher who worked at Junior High School in Crepy-en Valois which is about eighty (80) kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Paris died overnight in a Paris hospital.

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Jerome Salomon, the deputy head of the Ministry of Health said the death of the teacher brings the coronavirus death toll in France to two (2) following the death of an 80-year-old Chinese tourist who died in a hospital in mid-February.

The mayor of the teacher’s hometown of Vaumoise, as quoted by Le Parisien newspaper, said that the victim became sick at the beginning of the mid-term break was hospitalised immediately.

The Ministry of Education said the teacher was believed to have travelled to an area affected by the global coronavirus outbreak.

Regular classes in school are due to resume in northern France on Monday.

France has so far reported four other new cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection in the past 24 hours made up by two people returning from the virus hard-hit Italy, bringing the total number of infections to seventeen (17).

Two out of the four people infected had recently returned from the Lombardy region of Italy, which is at the moment the centre of Europe’s biggest outbreak of the disease.

A 55-year old man, who is one of the four people still being treated in a hospital in the northern city of Amiens, is in a critical condition.

It is reported that French government had directed all citizens returning from Lombardy, Italy and the neighbouring Veneto region as well as from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and South Korea should avoid all outings deemed non-important and keep their children away from school.

Eleven (11) other people in France are reported to have recovered from the infection which has killed more than 2600 people worldwide and infected 80,000 others, majority of whom are in China.