Two cases of novel coronavirus are confirmed in France

French health authorities have confirmed that a second patient has been infected with a novel coronavirus, as the World Health Organization confirmed that it was increasingly likely that the virus could be spread from human to human.

The French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health informed WHO at the weekend that a second person had been identified as having the virus, after laboratory confirmation of the first case on 7 May. The two patients shared a hospital room between 27 and 29 April.

Three epidemiological investigations are currently under way in France. The first concerns the 124 people who had contact in France with the first patient infected with the virus. Laboratory tests were carried out on five people, four of …