Paris (AFP)
Three cases of the new Chinese coronavirus were "confirmed" in France, on patients hospitalized in Paris and Bordeaux, announced Friday evening the French health authorities, stressing that these were the "first European cases".
The three hospitalized patients, at least two of whom had traveled to China, were placed in segregation.
"We are going back in the history of these positive patients so as to get in touch with the people they have crossed", explained the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn while announcing the first two cases during a point press, noting that the incubation period was probably "around 7 days, between 2 and 12 days".
The third, "a close relative of one of the cases, who was under investigation, has just been confirmed," the ministry said later that evening.
"Today we have the first European cases, probably because we developed the test very quickly and are able to identify them," said the minister.
People with whom coronavirus positive patients have been in contact must "take their temperature several times a day, contact center 15 in case of symptoms and stay at home for now to avoid any further contact which would promote the spread of the virus. virus, "the minister insisted, calling on people not to go to the emergency room if they have symptoms.
The first patient, aged 48, returned to France on January 22 after "a few days" in China where he notably "passed through Wuhan", and was hospitalized on Thursday in Bordeaux, said Ms. Buzyn. "He is fine," she said.
The patient is taken care of at Pellegrin University Hospital "in an isolated room by specialized medical teams whose competence in infectious diseases is internationally recognized", the hospital center said in a press release to AFP, specifying that it "continues its normal functioning "without disturbance for" patient reception ".
"The health professionals" of the service "follow the protection protocols in force by wearing (...) gloves, mask and suitable clothing", he underlined.
The patient, a Bordeaux native of China, who had presented Thursday to SOS-Doctors with cough and fever, was treated according to a protocol of "absolute emergency", with confinement, wearing masks and call 15 before his transfer to the hospital, told AFP the spokesperson for SOS Doctors Bordeaux, Dr Karl Moliexe.
"Because of our operation, by appointment, he met few people in the waiting room, less than 10 people and kept himself away. The risk for other patients is almost zero ", he assured.
According to the doctor, the patient from Wuhan had been in France for "at most 24 hours" and had transited through the Netherlands.
The minister, who indicated that she had information on the second positive case just before the press point, was unable to give details of the patient, indicating however that he had gone to China and that he was hospitalized at Bichat hospital in Paris.
Ms. Buzyn noted that it was not possible to control the "multiple routes" to return from China: "we can see the difficulty in a world like ours of closing the borders, it is in reality not possible" .
"For travelers returning from China, it is important to keep an eye on yourself, and at the slightest sign of breathing or if you have a fever, you should not go to the emergency room, you must call center 15 which picks up the patient", she insisted.
China has stepped up efforts to contain the spread of a new killer virus with the confinement of more than 40 million people.
The official report of the disease caused by this coronavirus which appeared in December on a market in Wuhan, a city in central China, further worsened on Friday, with 26 deaths.
© 2020 AFP