Their concern grows as this Monday, March 16, they will not be able to take the last flight to France in the evening to return home. Two French couples, on a tourist trip to Jordan, are currently confined to the country after having tested positive for Covid-19. Their final request for repatriation to the French Embassy was refused.
"No regular line accepts to transport us, worries, Marianne, 49, from the hospital in Amman, the Jordanian capital. The travel agency is in constant contact with the embassy. But tonight, all flights to France stop. "
The starting point for this unthinkable situation dates back to Sunday March 8. Marianne and her husband Jean, originally from the south of France, land in Amman for a tourist stay with a couple of friends, Louis and Bénédicte. All are between 49 and 55 years old.
Arrested by Jordanian police
Tourists begin their journey with a guide through the desert region of the southwest of the country and the Nabataean city of Petra. Before going further north. "When we got to the Dead Sea on Friday, Louis was starting to cough," says Marianne.
The French start looking for a pharmacy, with the help of their guide. They then test for coronavirus, which turns out to be positive. Sunday morning, barely awake and ready to board their plane for France, they are arrested by the Jordanian authorities. "There were the police, cameras, people stood 12 m from us and told us not to move," alarmed the forties.
The two couples are transferred to Amman hospital. They are placed on the 5th floor of the building, away from staff and other patients. The rooms are "in poor condition", "appalling sanitary conditions". The place is finally cleaned at the insistent request of the French. "The nursing staff is hypergentil," repeats this resident of Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales). But now the question is when are we going to be brought back? "
A letter to the French Embassy
The four tourists kill time with several other people carrying the coronavirus, including another French couple and their baby, who live in Jordan. They underwent additional blood tests and a chest X-ray. While positive, none are endangered by the Covid-19.
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“I have five children. My second son, 19, has to take care of others. He is extremely responsible. But the real worry is if one of them gets sick… ”, blows the mother, who uses the connection sharing of an Anglo-Jordanian patient to communicate with his relatives from the hospital in Amman.
Relatives of Marianne sent a letter to the French embassy on Monday to encourage them to "do whatever is necessary to ensure their protection and ensure [the four French people] a decent and clean place with an Internet connection". The four friends must leave the hospital and be moved to a hotel in the next few hours. The French Embassy in Jordan is due to visit them on Tuesday.