Marseille (AFP)
They are French, but also Belgian, Dutch or Swedish ...: a second plane bringing foreigners from Wuhan, epicenter of the epidemic of new coronavirus in China, must land on Sunday afternoon at the military base in Istres, near from Marseille.
This second plane of returnees from China, was in flight Sunday morning to France, confirmed to AFP the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Part of the passengers of this plane will be received at Ensosp (National School for Senior Fire Brigade Officers), a center offering more than 500 studios in the town of Aix-en-Provence, where they will be placed in confinement for 14 days.
"We had confirmation Friday by the prefecture and Ensosp that we were going to welcome these people," said AFP a spokeswoman for the town hall of Aix-en-Provence. This spokeswoman deplored Sunday "not to have answers to the concerns of the people of Aix". The Ensosp site is located in a rural area, almost 10 kilometers from downtown Aix-en-Provence.
Sunday morning, many members of the police were already deployed around the site, said an AFP journalist, pending the arrival of returnees from China.
- Second stopover in Belgium -
Part of Sunday's returnees will not land in Istres, but in Belgium, according to a diplomatic source in Brussels, according to which the aircraft will then take Belgian nationals and other nationalities to the Melsbroek military airport.
According to the Belga agency, 9 Belgians, 11 Danes, 23 Dutch, five Czechs and two Slovaks will be landed in Melsbroek. Belga adds that the latter will then be taken in charge by the diplomatic authorities of their countries.
The first returnees - mostly French - who arrived in Istres on Friday have been in confinement for two days in a holiday center in Carry-le-Rouet, a seaside resort close to Marseille. Two of them, who showed symptoms of infection with the new coronavirus when they arrived in France, were hospitalized on Friday. The tests carried out at the Timone hospital in Marseille turned out to be negative.
In the Vacanciel center where they must remain confined, the returnees, including three AFP journalists, benefit from "very good conditions" according to first accounts, and describe for some "an atmosphere of summer camp". They promised to take their temperature twice a day and not to leave the center, inside which they are however free to move.
An increasing number of countries have decided to close their borders with China, while the epidemic has already killed more than 300 people, including the first death recorded outside China, in the Philippines.
© 2020 AFP