France Confirms First Death in Europe From Coronavirus

By Saturday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the globe had risen to more than 66,000, with at least 1,523 deaths, almost all in mainland China. Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines have each recorded a single death.

Though the effects of the outbreak have so far been minimal in Europe, with confirmed cases in Germany, France and Britain, the outbreak was beginning to have a slowing effect on Europe’s economies.

The death in France was announced days after the World Health Organization warned that the virus’s spread could accelerate outside China.

Germany reported two more cases just days ago, raising the total there to at least 16. And the British health authorities declared the new coronavirus “an imminent threat,” although all but one of the nine patients who tested positive there have been discharged.

A British businessman who is believed to have been the initial source of at least five cases in Britain and five more in France said on Tuesday that he had contracted the virus at a conference in Singapore last month. He later traveled to a chalet in Les Contamines-Montjoie, where he came into contact with five Britons who later tested positive for the virus. Then he returned to Britain.