The French Navy’s only aircraft carrier, the “Charles de Gaulle”, reached its home port of Toulon on Sunday, carrying around 50 crew members infected with the coronavirus.

The vessel docked in the port of the southern French city on Sunday afternoon, days after the Defence Ministry announced that dozens of crew members had been infected with coronavirus.

Three infected sailors were evacuated from the aircraft carrier on Thursday in what the ministry called a “preventative measure”, without giving details of how the virus had made its way on board.

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The aircraft carrier, which had been out on the Atlantic when the crew members fell ill, returned to Toulon 10 days earlier than planned.

Around 1,900 crew members of the Charles de Gaulle, and its accompanying frigate, will now enter a two-week quarantine in southern France, the French news agency, AFP reported, citing the prefecture.

The 50 infected crew members had not experienced any deterioration in their states of health, the prefecture said. (dpa/NAN)