Five Britons Diagnosed With Coronavirus in French Ski Resort
nationals including a child have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus at a French mountain village, and health officials said they were checking who else might have been exposed, including at local schools.
In
total, 11 people, including the five who tested positive, have
been hospitalized in southeastern France and were being examined, the
French health ministry said Saturday, adding that none was in serious
condition.
The
group of Britons included holidaymakers and a family currently residing
in the Alpine village and ski resort, Les Contamines-Montjoie.
They
shared neighboring apartments in a chalet and temporarily hosted a
British man believed to have contracted the virus at a business congress
in Singapore before his short visit to France in late January, the
ministry added.
Two
schools will be shut next week for checks, regional health official
Jean-Yves Grall said, after it emerged that the 9-year-old who tested
positive had attended lessons and French classes in different
establishments.
Two
other children were also part of the group of 11 now in hospitals in
the cities of Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble, and they had been
schooled in the area, too, according to Etienne Jacquet, mayor of Les
Contamines-Montjoie.
Some
parents in the village, nestled in the mountains close to the Mont
Blanc peak and the Swiss city of Geneva, said Saturday that they had
received little information so far and were being cautious.
"Our
children were meant to go to a concert tonight. We took the decision
not to take them to not expose other people," said Beatrice Louvier,
adding that her 10-year-old daughter was in the same classroom as one of
the three British children.
Peak ski season
The
cases coincide with one of the busiest periods of the ski season for
area resorts, as schools in the Paris region begin midterm holidays.
British schools will also be on midterm break later this month.
Health officials said they were trying to determine who had come into prolonged and close contact with the British group.
Several
tourists who had just arrived in Les Contamines-Montjoui brushed off
the risks and said they would see through their holidays.
"The
percentage chance of getting infected is not really high," said
Frenchman Stanislas Des Courtis, who was visiting with his two teenage
sons. "The ski area is big, and there are not so many places where
[people] can gather here all together."
But local resident Catherine Davout, who helps manage flat rentals in the area, said she had already had several cancellations.
Business meeting
The
new cases emerged after authorities began to retrace the travels of a
British man who has been confirmed by Britain to have contracted the
virus, French health officials said.
They
had formed "a cluster, a grouping around one original case," according
to Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, who identified the person as a Briton
who had returned from Singapore and stayed in France between January 24
and 28.
The
French government said Singaporean authorities were looking into a
business congress that took place in a hotel there on January 20-23 and
was attended by 94 foreigners, including the British man at the
center of the Alpine cases.
As of Saturday, Singapore had 40 cases of the virus.
Of the 11 total cases in France, earlier ones include an 80-year-old Chinese man in a serious condition, while the others have shown signs of improvement, according to medical officials.
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