The Army does not yet have precise answers on the contamination by the Covid-19 of a third of the sailors of the aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle. But Florence Parly assured Friday of her determination to shed light on how the virus massively reached the crew of the flagship of the French Navy.
Auditioned during a videoconference by the deputies of the defense committee of the National Assembly, the Minister of the Armed Forces promised "transparency" on the two investigations, one epidemiological, the other of command, carried out on 8 April after 36 cases were detected on board the boat. The latter had then been forced to interrupt his mission and return to Toulon.
1081 positive sailors
These investigations will be "made public," said Ms. Parly, ensuring that a "progress report", in the absence of "final conclusions", will be made within "two weeks" on this contamination, the origin of which , she conceded, is not known at this point.
According to figures provided Friday by Ms. Parly, an "unprecedented" campaign of 2,010 tests has been carried out to date, making it possible to detect 1,081 positive cases among the 1,760 sailors of the aircraft carrier and its escort, including 545 cases showing symptoms. Twenty-four sailors are currently hospitalized in Toulon, one of whom is still in intensive care. Provisional figures since 300 sailors were still Friday awaiting their results. All sailors of the Carrier Strike Group (GAN) are placed under surveillance and confined, either at home or in a naval medical observation center. "We are constantly adapting the accommodation conditions of our sailors" according to their epidemiological situation, assured Florence Parly.
Read also: Coronavirus: twenty sailors of the CDG aircraft carrier still hospitalized
It is "an additional test after returning from a demanding mission," said the Minister of the Armed Forces, paying tribute to the men and women of Charles-de-Gaulle . The aircraft carrier left Toulon on January 21 to participate in operations against Daesh in the eastern Mediterranean, then it went to the Atlantic for exercises. The end of his mission was scheduled for April 24.
"We hear doubts and questions about the source of the contamination," conceded Florence Parly, referring to anonymous testimonies of sailors published in the press in recent days. The Minister made two hypotheses about the circumstances in which the virus could have entered the boat: during a stopover in Brest, from March 13 to 16, or some time earlier, in Limassol, on the island of Cyprus, February 21-26. However, Ms. Parly denied the "rumor" that the "pasha" of the aircraft carrier asked to interrupt the mission after the stopover in Brest.
Asked about the Charles-de-Gaulle's operational availability following this affair, Florence Parly explained that after the ongoing decontamination phase and the planned maintenance tasks, the boat would be able to return to sea in June.