French authorities have asked people who took part in an Evangelical Lent celebration in the east of the country last month to limit social contact after 10 new confirmed coronavirus infections were traced to the event.

Christophe Lannelongue, the head of the eastern France health agency, said on Wednesday that he expected more confirmed cases of coronavirus to appear in the region following the discovery of the 10 cases in two families, linked to a Lent church service in which some 2,000 people took part.