Former French Minister Patrick Devedjian dies of Covid-19

A FRENCH former cabinet minister and former president of the Parisian Haut-de-Seine administrative district has become one of the first high-profile politicians to die of Covid-19. Patrick Devedjian was 75.

Patrick Devedjian succumbed to the virus early on Sunday morning, three days after tweeting that he was ‘tired but stable.’

Mr Devedjian, a married father of four, was in the private Antony hospital, south of Paris, after being treated there since Wednesday. He was not known to have any underlying medical condition.

‘His condition deteriorated on Saturday,’ said a family source. ‘Doctors decided to place him in an artificial coma, but he didn’t survive.’

Mr Devedjian was still sending messages on Thursday, when he wrote: ‘I am affected by the epidemic, therefore to bear witness directly to the exceptional work of the doctors and all the nursing staff.

‘Tired but stable thanks to them, I go up the slope and send them a very big thank you for their constant help to all the patients.’