16-year-old girl becomes France’s youngest coronavirus victim

A 16-year-old girl has died in France after contracting the coronavirus.

The teenager, named only as Julie A by French media and who came from the Paris region, is the youngest victim of COVID-19 in the county.

According to France24, Julie developed a mild cough a week ago but on Saturday she began to feel short of breath.

She was hospitalised early this week, and her death was confirmed on Thursday.

The girl's mother Sabine, told AFP on phone; “It’s unbearable". "We were meant to have an ordinary life.”

"From the start, we were told that the virus doesn’t affect young people. We believed it, like everyone else,” Sabine said. Her daughter had no known underlying health problems.

France's director general of health Jérôme Salomon confirmed that a teenage girl had died but did not give further details.

In his daily press conference he said: “Severe forms (of COVID019) within the young are very rare.”

The news came as France reported more than 600 deaths from coronavirus in a 24-hour period, the highest daily total in the country so far and a 27% increase on the previous day.