Thirty six people aboard an evacuation flight from China that landed in France on Sunday showed symptoms of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 360 people, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said.
In all, 254 people arrived in France from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the deadly virus was first detected, on the second such flight.
"About 20 people who presented symptoms have stayed on the tarmac" at Istres airport in the south of France to undergo further testing, Buzyn told journalists. They included French and non-European nationals.
Tests were carried out to establish whether they had the coronavirus and the results will be known on Monday, the health ministry told AFP. A further 16 foreign nationals displaying symptoms were flown back to their respective countries.
The second evacuation flight was carrying people of 30 different nationalities, most of them European. Sixty five of the returnees were French.
A total of 124 non-French evacuees swiftly travelled on to their home countries, according to military sources in Istres.
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Nine Belgians and three of their partners as well as 15 Dutch citizens and their two Chinese partners were isolated after travelling on from Istres to a military airport near Brussels, according to Belga news agency.
However, 60 others from Mexico, Rwanda, Brazil and Georgia remained on French soil, Buzyn told reporters.
Some of the returnees will be quarantined for 14 days while others would be allowed to head back to their home countries if they showed no symptoms of the virus,
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