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Mysterious virus in China: fear of global spread
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LIGHTING – Unlike other European countries, like Italy or the United Kingdom, France has not taken specific precautionary measures at its airports regarding flights from China, where an epidemic of raging coronavirus. Assuring that a well-established system exists when necessary, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn explained that such provisions were not part of the WHO recommendations.
2020-01-24T11: 28: 23.071Z – Amandine Rebourg
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Chinese authorities have taken the lead. And this in a drastic way. This Friday, January 24, more than 40 million inhabitants were quarantined in China in an attempt to “stop the spread of the virus” which the country has been facing since December.
Although no proven case of coronavirus has been identified in Europe, several countries have nevertheless taken precautionary measures to avoid contamination. In Italy, as in the United Kingdom, passenger monitoring systems have been put in place. Same thing in Russia, where the temperature of each passenger arriving from the Middle Kingdom is “inspected” by agents equipped with thermal cameras and protective masks. A vigilance that France does not seem for the moment wanting to put in place.
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Posters at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle
This Tuesday, January 21, the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn wanted to be reassuring, believing that the risk of introduction of the virus in France is “low” even if “it cannot be excluded”. It is for this reason that posters were still pinned within the grounds of Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport. “Travel advice” which recommends in particular washing your hands regularly, avoiding contact with animals, people with fever and cough, but also the consumption of meat.
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“Reinforced surveillance system”
French passengers on the last flight to land in France from Wuhan explained this Thursday, January 23, their surprise at not seeing controls at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle. “We were asked for our contact details if anything happened, but that’s it,” said one passenger. Why ? According to Agnès Buzyn, these precautionary measures are simply not part of the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
In fact, WHO “does not recommend any specific health measures for travelers”. “In the presence of symptoms suggestive of a respiratory disease during or after a trip, travelers are invited to consult a doctor, to whom they will share their travel history”, can be read on this subject on the website of the ‘organization.
Public health France believes for its part that “the risk of secondary spread of the virus in the French population is currently considered very low”. On the other hand, people who show symptoms – quite similar to those of the flu – are invited to stay at home to avoid contact, and to call the emergency services. It will then be these health professionals, previously informed, who will take care of the supposedly contaminated people.
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Still, if specific measures at airports have not been taken, France has nevertheless put in place a “reinforced surveillance device intended to detect possible imported cases”. A mission entrusted to the General Directorate of Health and Infectious Diseases (COREB) as well as Public Health France and the National Center for Research on Viruses and Respiratory Infections dependent on the Institut Pasteur. This must allow immediate identification of “suspect” patients by reporting them, taking charge of them and treating them.
