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Five Britons Diagnosed With Coronavirus in French Ski Resort

Reuters

   LES CONTAMINES-MONTJOIE, FRANCE / PARIS - FiveBritish nationals
   including a child have been diagnosed with thenew coronavirus at a
   French mountain village, and healthofficials said they were checking
   who else might have beenexposed, including at local schools.

   In total, 11 people, including the five who tested positive,have
   beenhospitalizedin southeastern France and were beingexamined, the
   French health ministry said Saturday, addingthat none wasin serious
   condition.

   The group of Britons included holidaymakers and a familycurrently
   residing in the Alpine village and ski resort, LesContamines-Montjoie.

   They sharedneighboringapartments in a chalet andtemporarily hosted a
   British man believed to have contracted thevirus at a business congress
   in Singapore before his short visitto France in late January, the
   ministry added.

   Two schools will be shut next week for checks, regionalhealth official
   Jean-Yves Grall said, after it emerged that the 9-year-old who tested
   positive had attended lessons andFrench classes in different
   establishments.

   Two other children were also part of the group of 11 now inhospitals in
   the cities of Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble, andthey had been
   schooled in the area, too, according to EtienneJacquet, mayor of Les
   Contamines-Montjoie.

   Some parents in the village, nestled in the mountains closeto the Mont
   Blanc peak and the Swiss city of Geneva, said Saturday that they had
   received little information so far and werebeing cautious.

   "Our children were meant to go to a concert tonight. We tookthe
   decision not to take them to not expose other people," saidBeatrice
   Louvier, adding that her 10-year-old daughter was inthe same classroom
   as one of the three British children.

   Peak ski season

   The cases coincide with one of the busiest periods of theski season for
   area resorts, as schools in the Paris regionbegin midterm holidays.
   British schools will also be on midtermbreak later this month.

   Health officials said they were trying to determine who hadcome into
   prolonged and close contact with the British group.

   Several tourists who had just arrived in LesContamines-Montjoui brushed
   off the risks and said they wouldsee through their holidays.

   "The percentage chance of getting infected is not reallyhigh," said
   Frenchman Stanislas Des Courtis, who was visitingwith his two teenage
   sons. "The ski area is big, and there arenot so many places where
   [people]can gather here all together."

   But local resident Catherine Davout, who helps manage flatrentals in
   the area, said she had already had severalcancellations.

   Business meeting

   The new cases emerged after authorities began to retrace thetravels of
   a British man who has been confirmed by Britain tohave contracted the
   virus, French health officials said.

   They had formed "a cluster, a grouping around one
   originalcase,"according to Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, who
   identifiedthe person as a Briton who had returned from Singapore
   andstayed in France between January24 and 28.

   The French government said Singaporean authorities werelooking into a
   business congress that took place in a hotelthere on January20-23 and
   was attended by 94 foreigners, includingthe British man at the centerof
   the Alpine cases.

   As of Saturday, Singapore had 40 cases of the virus.

   Of the 11 total cases in France, earlier ones include an80-year-old
   Chinese man in a serious condition, while the othershave shown signs of
   improvement, according to medical officials.

   The epidemic began in Wuhan,China, and the vast majorityof cases have
   been in China.

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