The Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn held a press conference on Sunday 26th January 2020 after a meeting in Matignon with a part of the government.
French expatriates in Wuhan who wish to be repatriated announced the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn on Sunday 26th January 2020.
This repatriation by plane and organized by the French authorities will take place mid-week, directly from Wuhan. A dedicated medical team will accompany this return, which could affect from a few dozen to a few hundred people, according to the minister.
Coronavirus: Agnès Buzyn évoque un rapatriement “en milieu de semaine” pour les Français qui souhaitent quitter Wuhan pic.twitter.com/c3HpZBCdzO
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) January 26, 2020
Three people hospitalized, six cases under surveillance
The minister also confirmed that six people are currently under surveillance. Test results should be available tonight or tomorrow morning to determine if they are carriers of the Chinese coronavirus.
Agnès Buzyn clarified that these were “new cases” and not contact cases.
Remember that three people in France have been infected since the weekend. Two are hospitalized in Paris and the third in Bordeaux. All had recently arrived from China and had stayed in Wuhan, the big city where the infection first appeared in December.
The press briefing held by the minister on Sunday evening took place after a government meeting on the evolution of the spread of the coronavirus.
Read also: Coronavirus: three confirmed cases in the country, France worries about a spread
Prime Minister Édouard Philippe gathered the ministers concerned in Matignon “to take stock of the situation on the coronavirus”. The Ministers of Health, Agnès Buzyn, of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, the government spokesperson, Sibeth Ndiaye and the Secretary of State for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari are expected.
[#CORONAVIRUSFRANCE] En cas de signes d’infection respiratoire (fièvre et toux, difficultés respiratoires)
Contactez le 15 ☎️
Retrouvez l’ensemble des informations et recommandations sanitaires sur 👇— Gouvernement (@gouvernementFR) January 25, 2020
“Reception medical team” in Roissy
The coronavirus seems “very contagious but less serious than we thought at the start,” reassured the minister. “The more cases we discover and the more the Chinese communicate on the number of cases, the more we realize that in fact, the mortality is much lower than what we feared at the beginning of the week”. “On the other hand, the contagiousness seems to increase”.
The French health authorities have insisted in recent days on the effectiveness of treatment in the country, systematically reminding people who would be worried in the presence of symptoms (fever, cough or respiratory problems) after a trip to China or contact with someone returning from this country, to contact the Samu by the emergency telephone number 15 to benefit from an assessment by a regulating doctor and avoid any possible contagion and not to go to the emergency room or to his doctor.
The Directorate General of Health (DGS) also announced on Saturday evening the establishment of a “reception medical team” at Roissy airport allowing the care of people who present symptoms of infection by coronaviruses.
2000 cases in China, 56 dead
Wuhan and its region have been de facto quarantined since Thursday to prevent a further spread of the disease. A total of 56 million people are cut off from the world.
The toll in China amounted to nearly 2,000 cases of contamination on Sunday, 56 of which were fatal .
In addition, the Chinese New Year festivities to be held on Sunday were cancelled in Paris, after a similar decision in Bordeaux.
