Five British nationals including a child have tested positive for the new coronavirus in France, according to the health minister on Saturday,

They had all been staying at the same ski chalet, the health minister said.

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France has now detected a total of 11 cases of the novel coronavirus, and the new “cluster” is centred on a Briton who had returned from Singapore and stayed in Contamines-Montjoie, near Mont Blanc in the French Alps, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said.

“They show no serious signs” of a life-threatening infection added Buzyn, herself a doctor.

In addition to the five Britons who have tested positive for the virus, six other Britons staying in the same chalet in late January were also hospitalised for observation, the minister said.

On Sunday, the death toll due to novel Coronavirus outbreak in China has surged past 811, while the number of confirmed cases jumped to over 37,000.

The virus has spread to two dozen countries, prompting several governments to ban arrivals from China and urge their citizens to avoid travelling to the country. Some have recommended their citizens leave China.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) will convene a global research and innovation forum next week to mobilize international efforts to combat the deadly novel Coronavirus outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Last week, the US declared a public health emergency and temporarily banning the entry of foreign nationals who had travelled to China over the past two weeks to contain the spread of a deadly new virus.

President Donald Trump created a coronavirus task force to lead his administration’s response to the deadly virus which has killed 170 people and infected 7,736 others in China, and spread to 20 countries, including India.

In China, thousands of factory workers on Lunar New Year holidays may struggle to get back to work next week due to travel restrictions. Major firms such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and Sweden’s IKEA have closed China operations.

Four Chinese provinces, including Shandong and Heilongjiang in the industrial rust-belt region, have asked companies not to start work before February 10.

The Coronavirus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before.