MOSCOW/PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2020) A 60-year-old French citizen died on Tuesday night from coronavirus-related complications in Paris, Jerome Salomon, the director-general of the French health authority, said on Wednesday, adding that three other cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had been detected in the country.
"On the three new cases that we registered overnight: there is a French man aged 55, hospitalized in Amien, who is in serious clinical situation. He is now in the ER [emergency department]. His case is being looked into. The second case is that of a French man, aged 36, hospitalized in Strasbourg. He returned from Normandy and does not show serious symptoms. And the 17th confirmed case [in France] is that of a French man, aged 60. [He was] taken to the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital [in Paris] in extremely serious condition and unfortunately died last night. An urgent investigation has been launched," Salomon told the BFMTV broadcaster.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran will present the details of the investigation later in the day, according to Salomon.
The three new cases have brought the total tally of coronavirus patients in France to 17. The 60-year-old man's death was the second in the country.
In addition, two South Korean tourists, who have arrived in Paris after visiting northern Italy, showed up at the police department in the capital's 16th district on Wednesday and said that they were infected with COVID-19, according to BFMTV. Both tourists tested negative for the virus, the broadcaster reported.
Due to the new developments with the virus in France, Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi decided to cancel the festivities dedicated to the carnival in the city, which were scheduled for Saturday, according to BFMTV.
Meanwhile, the Bahraini Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that the total number of coronavirus cases registered in the country rose to 26, after three women who had arrived at Bahrain International Airport through non-direct flights from Iran tested positive for the virus.
Shortly after, Kuwaiti media, citing the health authorities, reported that the total number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached 25.
The recent spread of the virus in the middle Eastern countries started after Iran registered a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases. The Iranian health authorities can not yet contain the spread of the virus, according to Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Gouya, the head of the Iranian center for disease control.
"Until now, we have not been able to stop the coronavirus spread," Gouya told Sputnik.
Gouya also said that doctors in Iran were treating coronavirus-infected patients with WHO-approved drugs, including Chloroquine, Oseltamivir and Kaletra.
Moreover, an interesting coronavirus case was registered in China on Wednesday � a person infected with COVID-19 flew from Tehran to Shanghai via Moscow and then arrived in the central Chinese city of Zhongwei, according to the local disease control and prevention center. The infected person has spent some 16 hours at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, the center said.
