First Covid-19 (coronavirus) death outside Asia confirmed

A couple wearing protective facemasks walks along a street in Shanghai on Saturday (Feb 15). The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak jumped past 1,500 in China as France reported the first fatality outside Asia, fuelling global concerns about the epidemic. - AFP

BEIJING: The death toll from the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak jumped past 1,500 in China on Saturday as France reported the first fatality outside Asia, fuelling global concerns about the epidemic.

More than 66,000 people have now been infected in China from a virus that emerged in central Hubei province in December before spreading across the country and some two dozen countries.