Ajaccio (AFP)

After evacuations organized by air, the army again contributed on Sunday to the fight against the new coronavirus, with the transfer between Corsica and mainland of 12 patients thanks to the helicopter carrier Tonnerre, a real "on-board hospital".

Arrived in the port of Ajaccio early Sunday morning, Tonnerre was to leave for "Marseille as soon as the 12 patients will be on board", in the afternoon, to reach the Marseille area on Monday morning, AFP told AFP Captain Arnaud Tranchant, its commander, after a press briefing.

In the middle of the day on Sunday, ambulances rotated between Ajaccio hospital center and the ship, into which they returned via a side door.

The patients, six of whom were in intensive care and six only on oxygen, must be sent to different hospitals in Marseille: La Timone, Nord hospital, Saint-Joseph and European hospital, according to the Provence-Alpes regional health agency. -Côte-d'Azur (ARS).

"The ARS will contact all the families to warn them of the place of arrival of their loved one," said Marie-Hélène Lecenne, director of the ARS in Corsica, adding that on Saturday, "an interview between each patient and their parent closest (has) happened ". Of the 15 resuscitation beds currently available in Ajaccio, 13 were occupied on Sunday, a "near saturation", she also said.

"It is obviously always difficult to see them leave for the families but it was an answer which was absolutely necessary", assured the prefect of Corsica Franck Robine, recalling the "absolute necessity" that the Corsicans "stay at home" and "strict compliance with barrier gestures".

"The crew of Tonnerre is crossed by two feelings, both a very legitimate pride to come to assist these populations and at the same time a humility of rigor taking into account the sensitivity of the crisis and the imperative to preserve these patients until their arrival in Marseille ", said Arnaud Tranchant

- "Swiss knives" -

"Once on board, the patients will be transferred to the Tonnerre hospital structures," AFP spokesman Toulon said.

The operation succeeds two Air Force "Morpheus" missions, which made it possible to evacuate by military aircraft patients hospitalized in Alsace to less saturated regions.

Corsica, which has 340,000 inhabitants of which 94,000 are aged 60 and over according to INSEE, counted Sunday 173 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to health authorities. The epidemic has so far killed eight people there and "" a wave of increased cases of coronavirus "is expected in the coming days, the prefect had told AFP on Friday.

"Amphibious helicopter carriers are the Swiss army knives," the French Navy tweeted. Tonnerre is an "on-board hospital", underlined in a video broadcast by the Navy its commander Arnaud Tranchant. The army has reconfigured the building, "which is normally intended for war medicine", by installing resuscitation beds, he also said.

The helicopter carrier, which was used in particular after the passage of cyclone Irma in the West Indies, was also fitted out to "completely seal the hospital area, which will be in a vacuum, and the rest of the crew" added the soldier.

© 2020 AFP