Carry-le-Rouet (France) (AFP)

The second tests carried out on the approximately 200 people repatriated from Wuhan, the heart of the coronavirus epidemic in China, and currently under quarantine in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône), were negative, announced Friday l 'Regional Health Agency.

"The people accommodated benefited from two examinations, the day after their arrival and yesterday (Thursday), and all these samples turned out to be negative," insisted Philippe de Mester, the director general of ARS Provence-Alpes-Côte- d'Azur (Paca) at a public meeting in Carry-le-Rouet, in front of a hundred inhabitants.

"As the quarantine progresses, the risks for these people of falling sick and the risk of contamination for the environment decrease very quickly, to approach nullity," added Mr. de Mester.

The number of people affected by the coronavirus in France is still six and has not changed, he also said.

The announcement of the results of these tests, made earlier today to the confined, had been greeted with applause, said AFP journalists who are among the evacuees.

78 other people who arrived on February 2 - or 19 French and nationals of about fifteen other nationalities - follow their 14-day confinement period on the premises of the National School of Sapper Officers- firefighters (Ensosp) of Aix-en-Provence, Les Milles.

They also underwent initial tests, after their arrival, all negative. They will undergo their second wave of exams on Saturday.

During the public meeting in Carry-le-Rouet, the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, Pierre Dartout, and the director general of ARS, forcefully denounced a false press release from ANSES (Health Security Agency) circulating for a few days in the commune and claiming that the coronavirus could be transmitted to the inhabitants by cats and dogs wandering in the vacation site where the returnees are confined.

"We will ask the justice to decide," said Dartout, responding to the resident of the town who had just claimed this false statement. "What you have done constitutes a forgery and it can even be considered fraudulent," insisted the prefect, who had confirmed before this meeting his willingness to file a complaint against the author of the false document.

Mr. de Mester, for his part, repeated that the information cited in this false press release had "neither tail nor head".

The coronavirus epidemic has infected 31,161 people in mainland China, of whom 636 have died, according to a latest official report.

In the rest of the world, 240 cases of contamination have been confirmed in around 30 countries and territories, including two fatal, in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

© 2020 AFP