Photo of a Flixbus coach, here at the Lyon Perrache station on Monday. - Jérémy Laugier / 20 Minutes

  • This Monday morning, the passengers of a coach from Italy were confined for several hours at Perrache station in Lyon due to a suspicion of coronavirus.
  • The driver of the vehicle, who presented with flu-like symptoms, was hospitalized in Lyon.
  • The tests carried out on him turned out to be negative, according to the Regional Health Agency (ARS) which waited several hours to communicate on this suspicion.

In order not to create "panic", the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Auvergne Rhône-Alpes preferred to wait for hours this Monday to communicate on the suspicion of coronavirus in Lyon, which nevertheless fueled from the start of the morning social networks and news. An alert due to the confinement, at Perrache station, of passengers of a Flixbus coach from Siena, Italy, where the Covid-19 virus killed seven people and affected at least 150 people.

The Lyon authorities had been alerted by passengers on the bus, who passed through Milan and Grenoble before arriving in Lyon, worried that one of their drivers would cough strongly. As soon as the alert was given, a doctor from ARS Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and four epidemiologists from the regional cell of Public Health France (SPF) went to Perrache station to question the 36 passengers and the drivers of the coach "for assess the risks of Coronavirus, making it possible to specify the course of each and their general state of health ", specifies the ARS this Monday evening in a press release.

Passengers of the Flixbus coming from Milan, blocked in the Lyon Perrache station since this morning because of a suspicion of cases of coronavirus, leave gradually. @ 20Minutes #coronavirus #Lyon pic.twitter.com/ZqszBoyFU0

- Jérémy Laugier (@JeremyLaugier) February 24, 2020

None of the passengers had any symptoms, according to the agency, but a driver was taken care of within the Civil Hospices of Lyon for the realization of a Covid-19 test. "A test that turned out to be negative," adds the ARS, which therefore waited until the end of the day Monday and the results of the analyzes carried out on the driver to communicate about this suspected coronavirus.

Our file on the coronavirus

77 people traveled with the bus

A total of 77 people traveled in this bus, making the trip to Siena and Clermont-Ferrand, 36 of which were still present this Monday morning when the Flixbus arrived in Lyon. At the beginning of the afternoon, all the passengers, for a time confined to the Perrache station, had returned to their home or their accommodation in Lyon, ensures the ARS. For those who have stayed in Milan, in Lombardy, a “region newly integrated into the world zones where the new coronavirus is actively circulating”, recommendations have been transmitted.

They were reminded in particular to monitor their temperature twice a day, to wear masks in the presence of their loved ones and outside their home and to limit non-essential activities in collective places and sites welcoming fragile people ( hospitals, maternity hospitals, nursing homes, etc.). In case of fever or feeling of fever, cough and difficulty breathing, these people were invited to contact the Samu quickly (15) by reporting their trip and avoiding going directly to the hospital.

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Coronavirus: Passengers in a coach coming from Italy confined to Perrache station in Lyon

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