TOPSHOT - Vehicles run on the Paris' ring road, the "Peripherique", on December 9, 2019 in Porte de Vincennes in Paris, during a strike of Paris public transports over French government's plan to overhaul the country's retirement system, as part of a national strike.

An 80-year-old Chinese tourist has died of the new coronavirus in a hospital in France, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said Saturday, confirming the first fatality from the fast-spreading respiratory virus in Europe.

"I was informed last night of the death of the 80-year-old patient who has been hospitalized at Bichat hospital since January 25, and who was suffering from a coronavirus pulmonary infection," Buzyn said in a televised statement.

France has 11 confirmed cases of the illness, with more than 63,800 cases around the world, the vast majority of which are in China. More than 1,500 people have died and cases have been identified in at least 24 countries.

Until Saturday, the only deaths outside mainland China were reported in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan.