Coronavirus: affected, France is organizing to prevent the spread of the epidemic

"You have to treat an epidemic like you treat a fire: quickly locate the source," said French Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn on Friday January 24.

While three cases of the new Chinese coronavirus have been confirmed in France, by health authorities, on patients hospitalized in Paris and Bordeaux, the question of setting up an emergency plan arises again.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that it was "too early" to declare a "public health emergency of international concern".

In France, the first European country officially affected by the virus, the health authorities must however gradually put in place measures aiming, according to Agnès Buzyn, to "contain" the epidemic "as quickly as possible".

Priority given to the isolation of patients

At this stage, priority is given to the isolation of the sick. " All the people who have been in close contact with these patients are in the process of being identified," the ministry said. "They will receive specific instructions from the health authorities to avoid contact, in order to limit the spread of the virus."

Quarantine seems, today, the most effective measure to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The sick - to whom it is advised to call 15 (Samu) rather than going to the emergency room to avoid any risk of contamination - are then taken care of in isolation unit.
Then begins an investigation by the Regional Health Agency (ARS) and health structures aimed at detecting possible contamination in the patient's environment.

In the case of the current coronavirus, detected in China in December, it is then necessary to " control, monitor family contacts and any passengers on the plane that the subjects have taken, with temperature monitoring and a isolation at home during the incubation period (of the virus), ie 14 days ", explains Christophe Rapp, professor of infectious diseases, contacted by France 24.

Jumpsuits zipped from top to bottom, protective mask covering half of the face, medical personnel in France " are well equipped to face " the virus, and limit the risks of transmission, estimates Jan Cédric Hansen, doctor at the hospital of Pacy-sur-Eure.

The latter, recalling that the three confirmed cases in France are from China, said on France 24 that France has reference centers equipped with vacuum chambers to filter what enters, so that the virus cannot come out. " As long as we stay with a reduced number of patients: three, four, five, or ten patients a day, our system is quite capable of handling this, and we will significantly limit the risk of spread " , he adds.

Quarantine, effective if early

But can quarantine really help contain the epidemic? Yes, if it is early. " In China, the containment operations were too late, many people had already taken the plane" , adds Christophe Rapp who compares the management of the epidemic to that of 2003. During the dissemination of SARS, "o n had tried, in each country, to detect cases as early as possible and to isolate them as we have just done in France, so as to avoid dissemination in each territory " .

The Minister of Health estimated Friday evening that if France was the first European country to have identified cases, it was "probably because we developed the test (screening) very quickly and that we are able to identify them. "

Individuals contaminated by the virus, baptized 2019-nCoV for "2019 Novel Coronavirus", were able to leave Wuhan for abroad before the establishment of containment.

The minister reiterated, however, that it was not possible to control the "multiple routes" from China or to "close the borders". However, airport security measures still stick to prevention by way of posters today.

Still no thermal imaging cameras at airports

Passengers arriving on French soil from China are warned, as soon as they are installed on the plane, by messages encouraging them to be screened and warning them that in case of symptoms such as fever, they must absolutely go to airport medical services. Nothing systematic.

If "the Chinese authorities have put in place arrangements never taken before", with the confinement of tens of millions of people, and although "the alert has been heeded and everyone is preparing for hospital" , Astrid Vabret, professor of virology medicine at the CHU de Caen also insists on the absence of thermal camera type measurements at French airports.

"The WHO did not wish to declare a public health emergency of international scope, so there is no particular recommendation today intended for travelers", justified Agnès Buzyn, at the exit of the Council of ministers, Friday.

Essential in several international airports such as Rome and Dubai, thermal cameras monitor passengers from China as soon as they arrive at the airport. Other countries, Russia and Thailand for example, have implemented systematic temperature controls for travelers on airplanes.

In 2003, during the SARS epidemic, the rapid isolation of patients and their management according to strict epidemic control procedures made it possible to limit the number of imported cases and the spread of the disease as much as possible. according to WHO.

Difficult to draw a comparison with the pandemic of 16 years ago. "We do not know enough about the virus and its behavior on populations," concedes Jan-Cédric Hansen. "Its mortality is relatively low: it is 15 times less dangerous than SARS. It should be watched, but one must not enter into a reasoned fear," he continues.

On Saturday, Samu and emergency doctors were also reassuring. François Braun, president of Samu, and Patrick Pelloux, president of the association of the emergency doctors of France (Amuf) affirmed that it "was not used for nothing to be afraid", insisting on the organizational plans "well run" in case of epidemic risk.

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