1st coronavirus fatality reported outside of Asia after 80-year-old patient dies in France


An 80-year-old Chinese tourist infected with the coronavirus died Friday at a hospital in Paris, French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn announced Saturday.
The patient, who was not named, is believed to be the first person to die from the virus outside of Asia and the fourth outside mainland China. Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Japan have each reported one death, while the vast majority of fatalities have occurred in China.
The man's daughter is also infected, but is expected to be discharged from the hospital soon.
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Meanwhile, the United States is planning to evacuate Americans from the cruise ship that has been quarantined for more than a week in Japan after at least 218 passengers tested positive for the virus, including at least 40 Americans who were taken off the ship for treatment.
Overall, more than 66,000 people have been infected with and more than 1,500 have died from the virus across the globe, although the latest 24-hour period saw a dip in new cases. Read more at The New York Times and The Associated Press.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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