https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-52524001
'Was the virus in France last year?
The number of new recorded deaths is the lowest since late March, when only deaths in hospitals were being recorded. The new figures include deaths in care homes and have been declining for several days.
Meanwhile, an intensive care chief in the Paris region has told local media that the virus was present in France on 27 December - a month before the first cases were confirmed.
Yves Cohen told broadcaster BFMTV that his team had revisited negative tests for flu and other coronaviruses on 24 patients who had been in hospital with respiratory symptoms in December and January.
"Of the 24 patients, we had one positive result for Covid-19 on 27 December when he was in hospital with us," he said, adding that the test had been repeated several times to confirm the result.
Dr Cohen said he had reported the case to the regional health authorities and called for other negative tests from the same period to be re-examined.'