The first fatality from coronavirus outside of Asia has been reported in Europe.
A Chinese tourist died from the virus in France, the country's health minister confirmed.
The 80-year-old man died from a lung infection at Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital in northern Paris.
The man, who was from the Chinese province of Hubei, had been receiving treatment in the French hospital since January 25th.
He had arrived in France on January 16th and had been kept in isolation while receiving treatment, but his condition is said to have deteriorated rapidly.
It was one of 11 cases of COVID-19, which is the medical name for the acute respiratory disease caused by the virus, in France.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn confirmed the death this morning, which marks Europe's first fatality.
Ms Buzyn warned: "Our health system must be prepared to face a possible virus spreading across the country."
The fatality comes as a total of 1,525 people have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
The majority of these deaths have been in mainland China but one person died in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan.
67,079 cases have been confirmed since the virus started in mid-December in Wuhan, with 63,866 in mainland China, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and the World Health Organisation.
There were 5,090 suspected new cases recorded in mainland China, Chinese authorities said on Friday.
The World Health Organisation has sent a team of 24 health experts to China to investigate how the virus is spreading and its severity.
Reporting by IRN
