Five British nationals, including a child, have tested positive for coronavirus in the French Alps.

French health minister Agnès Buzyn confirmed on Saturday that the unnamed UK passport holder had ‘recently arrived on a flight from Singapore’ and passed the potentially deadly virus to three other adults and a child.

All are in the eastern Haute-Savoie Alpine region but did not reveal the name of the hospital. Ms Buzyn said the patients, who have not been identified, were in a ‘stable condition’ and being monitored constantly.

‘Their clinical condition shows no sign of seriousness,’ said the minister, who added that French authorites were trying to contact the Briton’s family. Ms Buzyn told a press conference in Paris that Prime Minister Edouard Philippe would be holding an emergency meeting later today.

The news comes as 40 French people are set to be evacuated from China, where more than 700 people have been killed by the virus, and 34,000 cases have been detected.

France’s number of positive cases now stands at 11 after it arrived in the country at the end of January, with the number in Europe rising to 35.

More than 34,800 people have been affected globally by the new virus, which broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan at a fresh food market.

In mainland China 722 people have died from the virus and 34,546 have been infected since it broke out in December.

The news comes as a US man has become the first foreign national to die from the virus in China.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…

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