Over 650 French sailors from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle have contracted COVID-19, the French defense ministry said on Wednesday 15 April.

Iran Press/Europe: With the huge jump in reported cases 668, up from 50 about a third of the nearly 2,000 sailors aboard the carrier and its support craft have tested positive.

The naval group docked in its Mediterranean home port, Toulon, earlier than scheduled last week because of the outbreak, and all sailors aboard were being isolated on military bases.

As of Tuesday evening, 1,767 sailors, most of the crew members on the Charles de Gaulle, had been tested, but 30 percent were still awaiting results, the defense ministry said.

Thirty-one sailors are hospitalized in Toulon, one of them in intensive care, the ministry said. It is still unclear how the outbreak started, and France’s Navy command has ordered an investigation.

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