A volunteer firefighter from the Oise has been placed in self-isolation after 18 cases of coronavirus were detected in the department, according to our colleagues at France Bleu.
The man, a senior corporal in the fire service, also works as a healthcare worker at Compiègne Hospital. It was there that he came into contact with the employee from the Creil military base who had contracted coronavirus and who is currently in intensive care at Amiens University Hospital.
Tests are currently being carried out on 18 further firefighters
The firefighters do not yet know whether their colleague has the coronavirus, but "he developed symptoms", the Oise Departmental Fire and Rescue Service has told our colleagues. And as he has since been at his fire station in Lassigny, near the Oise-Somme border, 18 other firefighters are being tested to see if they have the coronavirus. The results are expected on Saturday afternoon. The Lassigny fire station was thoroughly disinfected on Friday evening, between 8 pm and 11 pm, by a specialist company using a spray treatment.
200 hospital staff in Creil and Compiègne are currently in self-isolation. On Friday evening, Health Minister Olivier Véran announced 19 new cases of coronavirus in France, including six in the Oise, bringing the total to 18 cases in the department, which is the worst-affected in the country.