PARIS, March 12. /TASS/. The death toll from the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in France has reached 61, while the number of confirmed cases climbed to 2,876, France's health authorities said on Thursday.

Wednesday reports said that the number of fatalities reached 48, all of them elderly people, and that the total number of confirmed cases reached 2,281, including 105 people in the intesive care.

The first death from the novel coronavirus was reported in France on February 15. It was an elderly Chinese tourist who had already been infected when he arrived in France.

The first death from the novel coronavirus of a French citizen on the territory of France was reported on February 26. It was an instructor at a lyceum, and he was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus only after his death.