The Coronavirus, which premiered at The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, made its first appearance in the airy climes of the Haute Savois in the French Alps according to a Bloomberg report. Five Britons have been diagnosed with the illness just a week before school holidays bring thousands of families from the U.K. for skiing vacations. The region is home to the popular Chamonix and Val d’Isere resorts.
The cases stem from a contaminated chalet in Les Contamines-Montjoie. Family members from two apartments within the chalet have been stricken, including a nine-year-old girl who visited two schools in the area. (One of the two British families have been staying in the area since last year, the other was on a temporary visit.)
The virus made its way to the mountain range after another man, also British, traveled to the area after visiting Singapore.
The coronavirus has killed a reported 723 people in China, with 34,000 infections. There are 288 confirmed cases and one death in two dozen other countries. The new virus transmits at a far slower rate than the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic (that’s the good news) but has a higher mortality rate (and there’s the bad.)
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn calls the five cases (four adults plus the one child) “not serious.”