French minister confirms first death from coronavirus in Europe

Europe has confirmed its first fatality of deadly coronavirus on February 15. According to the French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn, 80-year-old  China's Hubei province died in France after contracting Covid-19 becoming the first casualty outside Asia. According to international reports, she had arrived in France on January 16 and was placed in quarantine in a hospital in Paris on January 25. Outside China, where the death toll of the coronavirus has reached  1,523, only three deaths were recorded in Japan, Phillippines, and Hong Kong. 

With more at least 66,492  confirmed patients of the novel virus in China, France had previously confirmed 11 cases including six who remain in hospital. The deceased Chinese tourist's daughter had also been infected but she is believed to be recovering. Meanwhile, in India, 17 people have shown symptoms of the virus after they arrived in the National Capital from China and other virus-affected countries before screening at the airports began around mid-January. 

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More than half patients treated with TCM

As the coronavirus cases soar, a senior official said that China has applied Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the treatment of more than half of the confirmed patients. Most fatalities of Covid-19 have been reported in the Hubei province while Wang Hesheng, the deputy head of China's National Health Commission said that TCM is being used by mobilising strong scientific research. 

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"Since the beginning of the outbreak, the government has attached importance to both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine by mobilising the strongest scientific research and medical forces in both fields to treat the patients," Hesheng said. 

Meanwhile, as the outbreak spreads to other countries, Egypt has also confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on February 14 and said that the affected person was a foreigner who has been quarantined at a hospital within the country.  According to the international media reports, the health ministry of Egypt has informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the newly detected case. Moreover, the government has taken all essential measures to curb the further spread of the COVID-19 disease through the transmission. It also said that the person carrying the virus had not shown any serious symptoms and was in a stable condition. 

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(With PTI inputs)