EUROPE’s youngest coronavirus victim, 16, was sent home with a “slight cough” a week before her death by medics who called it “nothing serious”.
Tragic Julie Alliot passed away from respiratory problems in a Paris hospital on Wednesday.
Her heartbroken sister Manon has now paid tribute to the “bright” teen as she warned “no one is invincible”.
She said: “We must stop believing that his virus only affects the elderly.
“Julie just had a slight cough last week. It got worse last weekend with mucus and on Monday we went to see a general practitioner.
“It was there that she was diagnosed with respiratory distress. She had no particular illnesses before this.”
No one is invincible against this mutant virus.”
Julie's sister Manon
Manon agreed to speak to the Parisien newspaper, and to release a photograph of her sister, because she wanted to warn others about the risk of coronavirus to young people.
Julie lived with her family in Longjumeau, south of Paris, and was studying at high school.
She was first rushed to her local doctor on Tuesday and then transferred to the Necker Hospital in the French capital.
Her sister continued: “Her lungs failed. The doctors did everything they could but it was impossible to wake her up.”
Manon and her mother arrived at the hospital after Julie’s death.
She said: “It was violent. We had time to see her, but we quickly had to think about the future.”
“It’s unbearable,” said Julie’s mother, Sabine.
“She just had a mild cough that she tried to cure with syrup, herbs, inhalations.
“On Saturday, Julie began to be short of breath. She was having a hard time catching her breath. Then come the coughing fits.”
These persuaded the family to take Julie to a GP, who called the emergency services.
“They arrived in full overalls, masks and gloves,” said Sabine. “This was another dimension.”
The teen was rushed to hospital and placed in intensive care where she complained “my heart hurts”.
She then tested positive for coronavirus and needed a tube in her windpipe to help her breathe.
By this point, Sabine and Manon had returned home to Paris on the doctors’ advice but received a frantic phonecall telling them to come and say goodbye.
Tragically, the pair didn’t make it in time and Julie was dead when they arrived.
Sabine said: “Her skin was still warm.”
The 16-year-old’s funeral will take place on Monday in her hometown, but with “only ten people maximum” attending.
Manon said Julie was “bright and much loved” and “loved to dance, sing, and make people laugh”.
On Thursday, the French authorities said 365 people had been killed by COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 1,696.
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The figure does not include those who died from the virus at home or at retirement homes, health official Jerome Salomon said.
Julie’s death follows the passing of an 18-year-old Brit in Coventry’s University Hospital which was announced on Monday.
Health officials confirmed the teenager had “significant” underlying health problems.
This week, 21-year-old Chloe Middleton, who had no health concerns before developing COVID-19 symptoms, died from coronavirus, her family said.
She is believed to be the UK’s youngest victim with no existing medical issues.
The family, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, called on people to stay indoors to halt the spread of the virus.
Mum Diane Middleton wrote on Facebook: “To all the people out there who think it’s just a virus please think again.
“Speaking from a personal experience this so-called virus has taken the life of my 21-year-old daughter.”
Last week, health officials in Poland said that a healthy new mother aged 27 died a few days after giving birth.
The unnamed woman passed away in a hospital in Łańcut in the south of the country.
According to reports, the 27-year-old caught coronavirus after coming into contact with her own infected mother who had returned from Italy.
