A 'bright and much loved' French schoolgirl with no underlying medical condition has died from coronavirus and is believed to be the youngest victim in Europe.

Tributes were today being paid to Julie Alliot, 16, who succumbed to respiratory problems in a Paris hospital on Wednesday after first developing a 'slight cough' a week ago.

'We must stop believing that his virus only affects the elderly,' said her heartbroken sister, Manon.

France's prime minister warned today that a likely spike in cases will put the country's health system under 'tremendous strain'. Officials fear that hospitals around Paris could be saturated within 48 hours.

Tributes were today being paid to Julie Alliot, 16, (pictured) who succumbed to respiratory problems in a Paris hospital on Wednesday after first developing a 'slight cough' a week ago

Julie's sister added: 'No one is invincible against this mutant virus. Julie just had a slight cough last week. It got worse last weekend with mucus and on Monday we went to see a general practitioner.

'It was there that she was diagnosed with respiratory distress. She had no particular illnesses before this.'

Manon agreed to speak to the Parisien newspaper, and to release a photograph of her sister, because she wanted to warn others about the risk of coronavirus to young people.

Until now, many have thought that only the old are in danger of dying because of the virus.

Julie was from Longjumeau, in the Essonne department, south of Paris, and was studying at high school while living with her family.

She was first rushed to her local family doctors on Tuesday and then transferred to the Necker hospital in Paris.

'Her lungs failed,' said Manon. 'The doctors did everything they could but it was impossible to wake her up.

The teenager was first rushed to her local family doctors on Tuesday and then transferred to the Necker hospital in Paris (pictured)

In the French city of Nice, authorities have set up a driveway reserved for medical staff to pick up protective masks and hand gels (pictured today)

On Thursday, the French authorities said 365 people had been killed by COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours, taking the national total of those who have died in hospital to 1,696. Pictured: medical staff at an emergency coronavirus hospital being set up in a gymnasium in Taverny near Paris

Manon and her mother arrived at the hospital after Julie's death. 'It was violent,' she said. 'We had time to see her, but we quickly had to think about the future.'

Manon said Julie was 'bright and much loved' and 'loved to dance, sing, and make people laugh.'

'It's unbearable,' said Julie's mother, Sabine. 'She just had a mild cough that she tried to cure with syrup, herbs, inhalations.

'On Saturday, Julie began to be short of breath. She was having a hard time catching her breath. Then come the coughing fits.'

These persuaded the family to take Julie to a GP, who called the emergency services.

'They arrived in full overalls, masks and gloves,' said Julie. 'This was another dimension.'

Sabine was first advised that Julie's condition was 'not too serious' but then her daughter was placed in intensive care on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron on a visit to the Necker hospital in Paris recently

Julie's funeral will take place on Monday in her home town, but with 'only ten people maximum' taking part.

A schoolfriend said Julie was 'a very sociable, funny, kind, ambitious girl who was loved by everyone in high school.'

'We'll never know why,' the girl's mother Sabine told AFP. 'She just had a cough' that anyone might get as winter winds down, she added.

Initially, they treated it with cough syrup and steam inhalation treatments.

By last Saturday, however, Julie began feeling tightness in her lungs. 'Nothing major, she just had a hard time catching her breath,' Sabine recalled.

Soon after, Julie was having coughing fits, so her mother took her to a doctor.

Diagnosing a respiratory impairment, the doctor called an ambulance, though it was fire-fighters, who often respond to emergency calls in France, who arrived.

Covered head to toe in protective coveralls, masks and gloves, 'It was like 'The Twilight Zone',' Sabine said, referring to an American science-fiction show from the 1960s.

The responders gave Julie a face mask to wear under an oxygen mask, and brought her to the nearest hospital, at Longjumeau in the Essonne department south of Paris.

She had a scan of her lungs, and was tested for COVID-19. While awaiting the results, Sabine went back home, and later called the hospital for news.

They told her the scan had shown some congestion in the lungs, she said, but 'nothing serious.'

Later that night Julie was again fighting for breath, and an ambulance transferred her to the renowned Necker children's hospital in Paris, where two more coronavirus tests were carried out.

By Tuesday, she was admitted to intensive care, and when Sabine visited, she found her daughter anxious, able to talk but exhausted, and complaining that 'my heart hurts.'

The latest coronavirus tests proved negative.

'The door to her room opens, the nurses come in without wearing protective gowns, and the doctor gives me a thumbs-up sign telling me that everything is fine,' Sabine said.

It was getting late, so she told her daughter goodnight and went home.

A few hours later, the hospital called: one of the COVID-19 tests was in fact positive, and Julie's condition had worsened to the point that doctors had to place a tube in her windpipe to keep her breathing.

'We can't believe it, there has to be a mistake. And why did this result come so much later?' Sabine recalled thinking.

Shortly after midnight, the hospital called again, telling Sabine to come quickly.

'At that point, I panicked. Some words, you just know what they mean,' Sabine said.

She and Manon rushed back to Paris, but Julie was dead when they arrived. 'Her skin was still warm,' Sabine said.

There was little time for mourning, and this would be the last time Sabine would see her daughter. Julie's body had to be isolated immediately and her clothes and other personal items incinerated.

Sabine managed to hold on to her daughter's baptism necklace and a bracelet.

To limit contagion risks, Julie's casket will remain closed for the funeral which only 10 people will be allowed to attend.

'It's unbearable,' Sabine said of the non-stop news reports of France's 16-year-old coronavirus victim. 'It's horrible because I know they're talking about my daughter.'

'We were supposed to have a normal life.'

France has so far avoided scenes seen in other European countries such as Spain and Italy - the worst-hit nations on the continent with the world's highest death tolls.

But on Thursday France recorded its highest death toll - 365 - and number of new infections - 3,922 - in a single day. It has now seen 29,155 infections and 1,696 deaths.

'The epidemic wave that is sweeping France is a wave that is extremely high and it is putting the entire care and health system under tremendous strain,' prime minister Edouard Philippe told reporters after a video conference between ministers today.

'The situation will be very difficult in the coming days.'

Frédéric Valletoux, president of the French Hospitals Federation, said patients will have to be transferred to hospitals outside the capital because they could become overwhelmed within in two days.

He said: 'If we leave each hospital to fend for itself, each territory caught up in the epidemic to fend for itself, we are headed for disasters.'

French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted that he had discussed the crisis with Donald Trump during a late-night phone call, posting: 'Very good discussion with @realDonaldTrump. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we are preparing with other countries a new strong initiative in the coming days.'

The country has some 14,000 coronavirus patients in hospital, with 548 in intensive care.

Spain yesterday announced its death toll rose by 769 to 4,858, while the total number of infected rose to 64,059 from 56,188.

The country's health chief Fernando Simon said: 'In percentage terms, today's increase is roughly equivalent to that of the past three days, in which we seem to see a clear stabilization.'

Italy's death and infections rate - 8,215 and 80,589 - has also stabilised in recent days.