Paris (AFP)

The countdown has started for French returnees from Wuhan in China, epicenter of the epidemic caused by a new coronavirus: they must arrive in France on Friday morning and will be put in solitary confinement for 14 days in a holiday center in Carry-le-Rouet, near Marseille.

In addition, a sixth case of infection with the new coronavirus was detected in France: it is the "first case announced" of contamination on French soil, said the Directorate General of Health (DGS) at AFP. .

A "liberal doctor" was contaminated in France by a person then returned to China, where she declared the disease, said the N.2 of the ministry, the director general of Health Jérôme Salomon, during a conference release in Paris.

Apart from China, these cases of direct contagion between humans have already been observed in Vietnam, Germany, Japan and the United States.

A 50-year-old Chinese woman, the fifth case detected in France, was declared positive Wednesday in the wake of her 80-year-old father. But we do not know if she had arrived in France already sick or if the virus was transmitted to her by her father on French soil.

The affected doctor was hospitalized "in isolation" in Paris and "his condition does not inspire concern", according to Professor Salomon.

For their part, some 200 French returnees from Wuhan will arrive in France "tomorrow (Friday) morning" and will then be placed in isolation in a holiday center in Carry-le-Rouet, said Jérôme Salomon.

These are people who do not have symptoms.

"The specifications were quite clear, (it was necessary) a pleasant place" and "a place where there was enough space," said Professor Salomon.

According to him, there was "no question of putting these people in places of detention or care when they are not sick".

During their period of isolation, they will be subject to medical surveillance to ensure that they are not contaminated by the virus: "We will ask them to take their temperature, to have a mask".

- Second flight -

These returnees will be placed "by families in separate rooms", said the prefect of the Paca region, Pierre Dartout, during a press conference in Marseille.

"They can go outside, inside the center," he added, adding that then "they will take the necessary equipment to protect themselves and others, for example masks".

These people will have to sign a "commitment" to respect quarantine, according to the prefect.

In addition, "a decree will be taken which will quarantine them", according to the Regional Health Agency (ARS).

"The gendarmes were positioned to avoid any penetration into the site, in the very interest of all those who might want to enter", said the prefect, according to whom, however, "it is important not to maintain the psychoses" but "reassure all the inhabitants of the sector".

The plane in which these people will enter is a military aircraft. At the beginning of the evening, in French time, the passengers passed a medical examination at the airport of Wuhan, noted an AFP journalist.

Officials from the French delegation of doctors and officials who arrived on the scene said that people with suspicious symptoms would have to take another flight.

Tuesday, the European Commission had indicated that a second flight was planned "later in the week", in order to evacuate other French people and nationals of other European countries.

"We will have a lot more information from tomorrow" (Friday), commented Jérôme Salomon.

So far, 7,700 cases of infection with this new virus have been detected in China and 170 patients have died. Sick people have been recorded in around 20 other countries and no patient has died outside of China.

Air France announced Thursday that it will suspend all scheduled flights to and from mainland China until February 9. In addition, the Chinese New Year parade scheduled for Sunday in Paris has been postponed until the spring.

"We are in the most extreme vigilance," said the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, visiting the comic book fair in Angoulême.

pr-alu-SNIDs-fbe / rh / ach

© 2020 AFP