The French overseas minister is rejecting rumours France would send students from its overseas territories home next week due to the coronavirus outbreak.
French Overseas Minister Annick Girardin on January 29, 2020 in Paris. Photo: AFP or licensors
Annick Girardin said the claim circulating as a press release on social networks was wrong.
At this stage there was no plan to repatriate students.
Ms Girardin said during a health emergency it was even more important to counter misinformation.
Restrictions on movement declared in France also apply to its overseas departments but not to the Pacific territories of French Polynesia and New Caledonia which run their own health care systems.
New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna are the only French territories without any confirmed coronavirus cases.
French Polynesia has recorded three cases.
The virus has also been spread to the French Antilles and the French islands in the Indian Ocean.