The French government's health adviser warned on Wednesday that about 17 million people in France may be infected with the novel coronavirus due to age or chronic diseases.
France officially registered more than ten thousand deaths from infection with the coronavirus, widely known as COVID-19, on Tuesday, to become the fourth country to exceed this limit after Italy, Spain and the United States, while the rate of increase in deaths increased for the second day in a row.
Meanwhile, the French government announced the suspected infection of the coronavirus among a number of employees of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
The French armed forces said that the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was on the way back to the port, after the symptoms of COVID-19 illness caused by infection with the coronavirus appeared on some of its crew members.
The ministry confirmed that about 40 crew members of the ship are under strict medical observation now, according to Reuters.
In a statement, the ministry said "around forty sailors are today under close medical observation. They are showing symptoms consistent with possible COVID-19 infection."
The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is the first nuclear propulsion ship in Western Europe, and it began operating in the year 2001, after the Clemenceau aircraft carrier was removed from service.
The Charles de Gaulle has 1,760 personnel on board.
Following joint exercises in the Baltic Sea with other European navies, the carrier was originally scheduled to return to the Mediterranean port of Toulon on April 23, but following the likely cases aboard, it was ordered back early, according to the website Naval News.
France recorded 541 new deaths of COVID-19 in hospitals during the past 24 hours, raising the total death toll of the new coronavirus to 10869 cases, according to Director General of Health Jerome Salomon.
The French presidency announced that the quarantine will extend beyond April 15.
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