Coronavirus in China: vigilance activated in France

Anxiety rises. While Thailand, Japan and South Korea have announced that they have been affected by “2019-nCOV”, the cousin virus of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which has been raging in China since mid-December, France has taken action. in a state of “vigilance”. “Vigilance has just been triggered in France”, thus announced Public Health France at the Parisian Monday, January 20, when the transmission of the virus from human to human had just been confirmed.

Since Friday 17, all doctors in the country have been invited to refer “for clinical analysis”, to the Samu or “a referent infectiologist”, anyone “presenting an acute respiratory infection, whatever its severity, having traveled or stayed in the city ​​of Wuhan in China in the 14 days preceding the date of onset of clinical signs or having had close contact with a person who fell ill in this city.

It was in a fish market in this city of 11 million that the virus appeared in China in mid-December. As a precautionary measure, the establishment was closed on 1^er January by administrative decision. Then, Thailand, Japan and finally South Korea, announced that they had identified a case on their territory. Two suspected cases have also just been announced in Australia. As for China, it indicated this week that it had identified more than 220 patients, against around sixty at the beginning of January, and four dead.

US authorities carry out checks at airports

With the approach of the Lunar New Year (Saturday January 25) and all the displacements that these festivities will generate, the authorities fear the worst. Emergency procedures were reportedly put in place last weekend in hospitals in the capital and the government is reportedly preparing for a massive distribution of protective face masks.

As for the nature of the virus, which causes cough and fever, “it is 80% identical to SARS (responsible in 2002-2003 in China for the death of hundreds of people in Southeast Asia, Ed) and as for SARS , we think that its source is of animal origin, but which one precisely, we do not know yet”, explains Arnaud Fontanet virologist at the Pasteur Institute / Cnam at Parisian. We also do not know its period “For the moment, we are basing ourselves on that of SARS, namely that the first symptoms would appear between the 5^and and the 14^and day after the infection, but we will still need a fortnight to see clearly”, he specifies, not without concern. “Of course, the people who died were all old and already sick, which means the virus is not very virulent, but if it mutates, it can become annoying.”

For fear of contagion, US authorities began screening passengers returning from Wuhan last week. At the airport of Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York, agents now take the temperature of travelers from Wuhan. However, this system is clearly not infallible, especially if the incubation period of the virus turns out to be long.

WHO recommendations

At the level of the World Health Organization, no travel restrictions are currently recommended. No more than screening procedures. On Monday, however, precautionary instructions were introduced for travelers preparing to take off for Wuhan. By means of posters or messages broadcast on board, the latter are invited to “avoid going to markets where live or dead animals have come, to eat them when they are undercooked or badly cooked, and in the event of symptoms, to quickly consult a doctor locally.”

To reduce the risk of coronavirus infection, “wash your hands well”, “remember to cook meat and eggs well”, or even “cover your mouth” when you cough or sneeze, still recommends the WHO on social media.

The World Health Organization is working with Thai and Chinese authorities following the report of a confirmed case of infection with the new #coronavirus.

Find the latest news and recommendations from @WHO : https://t.co/Jzs1VXLMjp pic.twitter.com/NaegytdS3y

— United Nations (UN) (@ONU_fr) January 15, 2020