Out of the twelve known cases in France of infection with the new coronavirus, a Briton is still hospitalized in Lyon, a Chinese man died in Paris and the ten other patients are cured. More than sixty French people are also still in quarantine in France. Here is the point this Saturday, February 22.
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A deceased octogenarian
After several days in intensive care at Bichat hospital in Paris, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died on February 14. His death announced the next day is the only one to date in Europe.
Arrived in France on January 23, this man from the province of Hubei had initially consulted the emergency room of the European hospital Georges Pompidou on January 25 but had not been identified as a suspect case because he did not correspond not the criteria. He had a fever but no cough or respiratory signs and was not from Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, but from a city 400 km to the north.
He then developed breathing problems that prompted a change in his ranking and the test came back positive on January 28.
Ten healings
The 50-year-old daughter of the deceased patient, who was contaminated and hospitalized in Bichat, was declared cured. A Chinese couple, who were among the first cases announced on January 24, left the hospital on February 12. The 31-year-old man and 30-year-old woman from Wuhan arrived in France on January 18. On February 13, a 48-year-old patient was able to go out after 22 days of hospitalization in Bordeaux. This man of Chinese origin had returned to France on January 22 after having notably passed through Wuhan. He had been hospitalized after presenting to SOS-Doctors with cough and fever. According to the medical team, he was treated with remdesivir, a "promising" antiviral.
A doctor hospitalized at Pitié-Salpêtrière, in Paris, was released on February 14. This first proven case of transmission on French soil had been announced on January 30: it was a liberal doctor who was infected by a Chinese patient, then left for Taiwan where he declared the disease.
The head of the infectious diseases department of this hospital, Professor Eric Caumes, told France 2 that this patient had undergone an experimental treatment, based on molecules used "in other viral diseases".
Six British, including a child, had been contaminated by a compatriot returning from Singapore whom they had encountered in a chalet in Contamines-Montjoie (Haute-Savoie) where he had stayed a few days at the end of January before returning to his country.
The six, which are the last cases found in France, had been hospitalized in Grenoble, Lyon and Saint-Etienne. Five of them have since emerged.
A patient still hospitalized
"There remains today only one hospitalized patient, in Lyon, from which we await the next discharge," said Friday the new Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
He is the sixth and last Briton.
Over 350 quarantined passages
Since the start of the epidemic, more than 350 people have been placed in quarantine in France after being repatriated from Wuhan in four waves: three planes chartered by France arrived on January 31, February 2 and February 21 with on board French and foreign nationals, and a flight operated by the British, via London, on February 9.
Some foreign passengers left directly for their country. The French and foreigners who stayed in France were confined for 14 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus, in three places.
The 225 welcomed in a holiday center in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône) have all already emerged, first 181 on February 14 and then 44 on February 16.
Of the 113 housed in a training center for firefighters in Aix-en-Provence, 78 left on February 16. The 35 people arriving via London should not leave until Sunday, February 23.
The fourth wave of 28 French arrived this Friday in a holiday center in the village of Branville, in Calvados.
The French of the Diamond Princess
Four Frenchmen were on board the liner Diamond Princess, quarantined in Japan and which remains the most important source of contagion outside China.
Three of them were tested positive and hospitalized in Japan, the fourth is a crew member still on board.
