Coronavirus: around forty suspected cases on board the Charles-de-Gaulle

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The French aircraft carrier, which was cruising in the Atlantic, decided to anticipate its return to Toulon, its home port.

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The situation on the Charles-de-Gaulle is taken very seriously by the general staff of the armies which, after the episode of the American aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt , fears the appearance of the Covid-19 on board one of its boats. At this stage, there would not be any serious cases among the 1,760 crew members, only a suspicion concerning about forty sailors.

No serious cases on board

The carrier strike group, which left for a long mission on January 21, first crossed the eastern Mediterranean to fight against the Islamic State group, as part of Operation Chammal. He then joined the North Atlantic for a series of exercises. It is currently off the coast of Portugal. He " was already going home, he is short, " said the cabinet of Minister Florence Parly, noting that this " common sense decision " posed no strategic or operational problem.

The aircraft carrier was originally scheduled to return to Toulon on April 23. He will therefore be at his home port a little earlier.

The Charles-de-Gaulle will welcome on board a small team of specialists from the army's health service, in particular epidemiologists. A section of the front of the vessel, with a capacity of 127 people, was insulated to accommodate the confined sailors.

The authorities are reassuring: there are no serious cases on board and the ship has a hospital of a hundred beds. However, with the Charles de Gaulle, flagship of the French fleet, it was the first time that the armies were forced to shorten a mission because of Covid-19.

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• France
• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine

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