The Covid-19’s strong attack on the aircraft carriers of the world military powers, France and the US, led the two countries to step up the investigation of the source of infection.
According to a review released by the French military on April 18, out of a total of 2,010 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (including escort ships) tested, up to 1,081 people were positive for Coronavirus.
The number of infections is likely to be even higher, as there are still about 300 tests to be completed soon.
Testifying before the Defense Committee of the French House of Representatives, Military Minister Florence Parly said about 1,700 soldiers on the aircraft carrier and 200 soldiers on the escort warship, the majority of whom were identified as infected with Covid-19, returned to Toulon on April 12, two weeks before the end of its three-month mission.
Nearly 2,000 soldiers were transported on buses to isolated locations of the French army.
At the same time, Secretary Parly announced that two investigations had been launched: a command of the commander’s investigation of the responsibilities of commanders and an epidemiological investigation. She pledged that the results of these two surveys would be published within 2 weeks.
The French military minister also said that the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle plans to return to participate in operations from June 2020 and all soldiers on board will have to perform a 14-day quarantine on land before being sent to duty.
The isolation of thousands of sailors aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is an unprecedented operation of the French army.
The Charles de Gaulle sailed to the Eastern Mediterranean on January 21 to assist French military forces against Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria before deploying to the Atlantic and then the Baltic sea.
The city of Toulon is where the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is docking after shortening its mission in the Middle East and Atlantic due to the Covid-19 outbreak on board.
Health officials have faced with the extremely difficult challenge of safely evacuating nearly 2,000 people from ships and arriving to quarantine without new cases of infection.
A major campaign to disinfect entire carriers and escorts has also been under way since April 14.
Charles De Gaulle is the only French aircraft carrier and also Europe’s only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
France is also the second country after the US to own a nuclear aircraft carrier. Other countries like Russia, China and Brazil are still using conventional engine powered aircraft carriers.
Currently, the mystery still covers the origin of the Coronavirus in Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Several French media quoted crew members saying there was tension on the French carrier as the disease spread, after it stopped last month at the Brest port of the French Ocean Atlantic before returning to the sea.
Also in Friday’s hearing, Ms. Parly denied information that a crew member gave when interviewed by radio station France Bleu, that the captain had offered a temporary suspension of its duty at Brest, but the ministry ordered the ship to continue sailing.
She asserted: “This is false.”
The military is investigating how the corona virus gets on an aircraft carrier. The French military minister said there were many theories under study, especially the visit to Brest just before the blockade was issued across France, or the visit to Limassol, Cyprus, a month ago.
At the stop on March 13-16 in the French northwestern port of Brest, sailors were allowed to meet their families on the mainland, to restaurants and cafes before returning to the ship. At that time, 50 new sailors were added to the ship.
As for US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, the latest investigations are confirming that the outbreak of the Coronavirus on board did not stem from a visit to the Vietnamese port in early March.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the hypothesis about the origin of Coronavirus stemming from the operation of the aircraft on board is being strengthened with many new sources of information recently revealed.
Firstly, the time when the first cases appeared on the ship showed the high probability of the source of infection coming from the flights of the aircraft carrier, because after leaving Vietnam, the USS Theodore Roosevelt had done many freight flights from many countries.
Second, out of about 5,000 employees, none had symptoms before March 24–25. According to US officials, the visit to Da Nang ended on March 9 and with the average incubation period of Covid-19 is more than two weeks, the link between the visit and the outbreak is absent basis.
Thirdly, the organizers of the visit highly appreciated the prevention and control of the Covid-19 disease in Vietnam, when there are regularly people checking and updating the contagious situation of the disease in the locations.
Fourth, when at the hotel of 30 sailors discovered that two Englishmen were positive for Coronavirus, the ship immediately ordered the sailors to return to the ship, immediately conducted isolation from the previous test results when boarding were negative. The ship USS Bunker Hill also docked in Vietnam, but no sailors were found infected with the disease.
On that basis, it can be seen that the visit to the port of Da Nang, Vietnam on March 7-9 was not the cause of USS Theodore Roosevelt’s crew infected with Coronavirus.
US officials have made the comment as they are stepping up efforts to find the cause of the serious outbreak, which has caused the ship to suspend deployment in Asia and divert to anchor at the port on Guam Island.
To date, more than 600 sailors on board have suffered from Coronavirus, of which 41-year-old sailor has died, 5 cases have been hospitalized and 1 is being actively monitored.
According to US media, there are currently 615 sailors on USS Theodore Roosevelt infected with Coronavirus. Five of these sailors are currently hospitalized at the Naval Hospital on Guam Island, including one in intensive care.
1 sailor died of complications of Covid-19 on April 13.
More than 1,700 other sailors on board were negative with Coronavirus disease being transferred to regional hotels, Fox News reported quoted US military officials.
Business Insider quoted the US Navy as saying the force had cleaned and disinfected 80% of the space on USS Theodore Roosevelt.
A US naval official said: “We have now cleaned up more than 2,000 accommodations, living areas on board as well as disinfected more than 80% of the ship area.”
It is worth noting that the majority of US carrier crewmen aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt who were identified with Covid-19 had no symptoms.
This shows that the Coronavirus disease has quietly spread in the community, attacking young, healthy sailors on the aircraft carrier without showing any symptoms.
This is a clue about the pandemic that could mean a great deal for US policymakers and many countries around the world as they are considering a time to reopen the economy, consider easing or removing the blockade and social distance.
To date, the US Navy has tested 94% of the 4,800 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.
As reported by the US Navy on April 16, about 60% of more than 600 sailors with positive test results so far have no symptoms of Covid-19. However, the notice did not specify how many sailors could later develop symptoms or remain asymptomatic after testing.
“We learned that the infection of Covid-19 is asymptomatic as the secret power of SARS-CoV-2,” said the US Navy’s chief physician, Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham.
In an interview with NBC, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the number of asymptomatic cases from USS Theodore Roosevelt was worrisome. “The exposure data for SARS-CoV-2 shows that healthy people do not know they are carrying the virus,” said Esper.
Data like this becomes a challenge for US troops that deploy forces around the world, especially in tight spaces like submarines, battleships and aircraft. Reuters quoted US officials as saying that testing the entire army is still not feasible because testing capabilities are still limited.
Wuhan pneumonia is far worse than any modern weapon when it has neutralized aircraft carriers, which is the pride and measure of military strength of the nations.
The outbreak of Coronavirus on aircraft carriers caused heavy damage to the French and American armies.
The military forces of these two countries are facing great challenges by both restoring the combat capabilities of aircraft carriers and ensuring the health and safety of life for soldiers before the pandemic.
Through the painful lesson of the Coronavirus that killed more than 150,000 people and infected more than 2 million people, the more Vietnam needs to prepare for the most dangerous things from the Northern neighbour, like General Truong Giang Long asserted that “China never gives up its ambition to occupy the East Sea (South China Sea).”
Hoang Lan from Hanoi – Thoibao.de (Translated)
