A nurse in Marseille on September 10, 2020. -

Daniel Cole / AP / SIPA

Covid-19 will automatically be recognized as an occupational disease for caregivers affected by the virus and needing an oxygen supply, other caregivers and non-caregivers having to go through a committee of two doctors, according to the ministry of health.

The publication of a decree on this subject is "imminent", AFP learned from the services of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.

Recognition will be automatic for caregivers, hospital and city, and for those working with vulnerable people, at home or in nursing homes, on one condition: they must have contracted a severe form of the disease, that is to say having benefited from oxygen therapy.

It will be necessary to establish a link between the pathology and the work

This recognition will allow 100% coverage of medical costs but also to receive compensation in the event of temporary or permanent disability.

In the event of death, the beneficiaries may also receive an annuity.

Non-caregivers, as well as caregivers who have contracted the virus but have not needed oxygen therapy, will have to go through a national committee of independent experts, made up of a medical consultant from the Insurance Fund. disease and a hospital practitioner or an occupational physician, the ministry said.

This so-called occupational disease recognition committee will be responsible for defining whether there is indeed a link between the disease and work.

An investigation may take place at the patient's workplace.

Non-caregivers who have not had an oxygen supply will have to go through a medical advisor from the health insurance fund to define whether their after-effects are indeed of some form of seriousness, before being able to present their case to the committee.

Last step: once the disease has been recognized as an occupational disease, a medical consultant will set the amount of compensation.

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