Two schools to shut in France as five British nationals among new coronavirus cases
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France is closing two schools and trying to reassure vacationers in the Alps after five British citizens, including a 9-year-old child, contracted the new virus from China at a French ski resort.
Saturday’s announcement of the five new cases in France at the height of the ski season is the latest example of how the tentacles of the virus can easily spread across multiple borders.
The five British citizens were staying in a chalet in the Alpine ski resort of Contamines-Montjoie near Mont Blanc, and were in close contact with another Briton who apparently contracted the virus in Singapore, traveled to the French Alps and then tested positive for the virus upon return to Britain, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn told reporters Saturday.
That brings the total number of virus cases in France to 11. Britain has three confirmed cases.
The cruise ship SuperStar Aquarius returns to the home port at Keelung Harbor in Keelung, Taiwan, 08 February 2020, after its passengers were denied entry at Naha, Japan. Health workers are checking the body temperature of the 1,738 passengers, who are mostly Taiwanese citizens, for coronavirus infection. If one person is infected with coronavirus, all passengers will be kept on board for quarantine. Taiwan has reported 17 coronavirus cases and is boosting prevention measures. EPA-EFE/DAVID CHANG
In Spain, a British family was admitted in hospital for possible coronavirus, in Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands. Only one of the four members of the family, that is isolated in the hospital after they were admitted in the weekend, has a temperature and common flu symptoms, according to official sources.
The new type of coronavirus has infected more than 34,800 people globally and killed more than 800, nearly all of them in China, since the first illnesses were detected in December.
More people have been killed by the new coronavirus than the 2003 SARS outbreak, according to latest figures.
A total of 813 people have died from 2019-nCoV, dubbed the Wuhan virus, compared to 774 killed by SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Both are types of coronavirus which originated in China and virologists say they are genetically close.
The majority of deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak are concentrated in mainland China, although there has been one death in the Philippines and another in Hong Kong.
Outside of China, the virus has spread to 24 countries.
