Five Brits Including One Child Have Contracted Coronavirus In France

Five Brits have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in France, health officials have confirmed.

The British nationals - one of whom is a child - contracted the virus after staying in the same ski chalet as a man who caught the virus in Singapore.

PA

French health minister Agnes Buzyn said a UK citizen 'recently arrived on a flight from Singapore' and 'a cluster, a grouping around one original case' formed, comprised of 11 people at the chalet in the Haute-Savoie Alpine region of south-eastern France.

All 11 were taken to hospital and four adults and a child were confirmed to have the virus.

The infected Britons were hospitalised overnight (Friday 7 February) in the region, in the cities of Lyon, Grenoble and Saint-Etienne, though all of them are said to be in a stable condition.

Buzyn said: "That original case was brought to our attention last night - it is a British national who had returned from Singapore where he had stayed between January 20 and 23, and he arrived in France on January 24 for four days.

"Their clinical condition shows no sign of seriousness."

Buzyn added at a press conference in Paris that Prime Minister Edouard Philippe would be holding an emergency meeting later today (Saturday), with the country's number of confirmed cases now standing at 11, and the figure across Europe rising to 35.

In mainland China, the death toll rose to 722 today, while the number of confirmed cases stands at 34,546.

In a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama, the number of confirmed cases of the virus has risen to 61.

Some 3,700 passengers are being quarantined on the Diamond Princess as they await screening, which began after an 80-year-old man from Hong Kong who had been on the ship last month fell ill with the virus.

PA

David Abel, one of the 78 British passengers on board the ship, has been providing regular updates on living conditions via Facebook.

He said: "We are to monitor our temperatures on a regular basis, and if it's increased above normal we are to contact the medical services on board of the ship.

"Passengers in the small inside cabins have no window, there is no daylight, and no fresh air... but the captain has announced those passengers will be allowed access to open deck for exercise and fresh air.

"If we are permitted out on open deck, we have to wear a mask when we're outside. We have to keep one metre apart from everyone else and are not allowed to congregate in groups.

"All of the luxury of having a steward come to make the bed and put a chocolate on the pillow - those days are gone. We have to take care of the cleanliness and hygiene of our own room."

Topics: uk news, coronavirus, Health

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey