France has confirmed three positives case of coronavirus, the health minister has announced

It is the first time the killer virus has been confirmed to have infected people in Europe.

Health chiefs in Paris on Friday night confirmed that one case was detected in Paris, and another at the University Hospital in Bordeaux.

Agnès Buzyn, France’s Health Minister, said a sufferer in the south west city of Bordeaux had just got back from China on Wednesday.

"The patient is 48 years old and had just returned from China," said Ms Buzyn.

"He passed through the city of Wuhan. He has been in contact with a dozen people since his arrival in France. He is in isolation in Bordeaux.

"A second case has also been confirmed in Paris. A patient has tested positive for coronavirus."

The virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, has killed 26 people and infected more than 800.

Most cases have been in Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated in a market that traded illegally in wildlife.

China is currently in lockdown in a desperate attempt to curb the spread of the virus, with authorities shutting part of the Great Wall and suspending public transport in 10 cities.

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, people in the UK face ongoing tests for coronavirus as the Chief Medical Officer for England said there is a "fair chance" Britain will see cases emerge.

The UK is one of the first countries outside China to have a specific laboratory test for the coronavirus at the centre of the latest outbreak.

(Image: EPA-EFE/REX)

On Friday afternoon, the UK government announced 14 suspected cases had proven negative, but further people were still to be tested.

A leading British virologist has warned it may be too late to contain the spread of the illness, which causes severe respiratory symptoms, with billions now at risk.

A group of students from Wuhan College, China, visited Cambridge University in the past week, it has emerged.

Wuhan is now completely shutdown isolation, with pharmacies beginning to run out of supplies and hospitals being flooded with nervous residents.

The city is rushing to build a 1,000-bed hospital by Monday, state media said.

Devastating pictures emerging from China show people collapsed in the street waiting for medication.

Despite the lockdown, the virus is already spreading further afield.

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The vast majority of the cases and all of the deaths have been in China, but it has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal and the United States.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases, both in people who had traveled to Wuhan.