Tourists contract coronavirus at French ski resort, authorities test visitors

Officials are testing hundreds of people in the French ski resort town of Contamines-Montjoie. Photo / Hobby Snapper, Getty Images

Authorities are zeroing in on a French ski resort where five British citizens have contracted the coronavirus.

The five Britons, including a nine-year-old child, were part of a group of 11, staying in the same chalet at Les Contamines-Montjoie in the Alps.

The resort is part of the Mont-Blanc area.

France's Health Ministry says they were staying in the same accommodation as a man who is believed to have contracted the disease in Singapore, according to French news network France24.

Sky News says that man is now being treated at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn visited the resort yesterday to reassure residents and tourists there was a "very weak risk" of catching the virus.

The five new victims were taken to hospital in the Savoie region, but are not considered to be seriously ill.

Associated Press reports officials were now testing hundreds of children and their families in Contamines-Montjoie.

According to the BBC, authorities are closing two schools next week, both of which are attended by the nine-year-old child with the virus.

The boy lives in the ski resort of Contamines-Montjoie with his family.

In Spain, authorities were working to identify everyone who came into contact with a British man whose case was detected in Mallorca, a popular vacation island in the Mediterranean Sea.

According to Spain's National Microbiology Centre, the man contracted the virus at the end of January at a French ski resort.

However it has not been confirmed whether that resort was Contamines-Montjoie.

-with additional AP reporting