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HEALTH

Has coronavirus really been found in the water in Paris?

Reports of coronavirus being found in the Paris water system have sparked concern, here's a look at exactly what happened.

Has coronavirus really been found in the water in Paris?
The Canal Ourcq, which runs through Paris. Photo: AFP

On Sunday, Paris City Hall announced that small traces of Covid19 had been found in the city's water.

While this sounds quite alarming, there are some things to be aware of.

1. It's not in the drinking water supply

The authorities were clear that the tests that found traces of the virus were in the city's eau non potable – non-drinking water.

The tests were done on water from the supply points for the city's street-cleaning trucks.

This water is taken from the river Seine or the Ourcq canal which runs through the city and is partially treated, but not to the same standard as drinking water. The water from these supply points is also used to supply ornamental fountains and ponds in the city's parks – although most of these are closed at present.

Paris authorities say they have stopped using this water for street cleaning while they run more tests.

Paris street cleaners are no longer using the non-drinking water network. Photo: AFP

2. The amounts detected are very small

Samples were taken from 27 water points and in four of them very small amounts of the virus were found.

“We are at the limit of detection points,” Laurent Moulin, microbiologist at the Eau de Paris research and development laboratory told BFMTV.

“We were able to find and confirm the faint trace of viral genome… We found 1,000 small pieces of virus genome per litre of non-drinking water, which is 3,000 to 5,000 times lower than the concentrations in raw sewage.”

It's actually not unusual to find traces like this in the water during an epidemic, as the virus enters the sewage system via the toilets of infected people.

Treatments plants remove most of it, but non-drinking water doesn't get the same level of treatment as tap water so some traces can remain.

“This is the case with every epidemic, which is why people say that you shouldn't bathe in rivers during major gastroenteritis epidemics, for example,” Paris deputy mayor Emmanuel Grégoire told France Info.

“There is no reason why coronavirus should escape the rule.”

3. There is extra testing 

The water in Paris is fairly regularly monitored, but testing has been stepped up in the context of the health situation.

The traces would not have been found under the normal testing regime, but were picked up by the extra level of testing.

“If we hadn't looked, we wouldn't have found it,' added Grégoire.

4. Use of the non drinking-water network was suspended

Despite saying that the amounts are tiny, Paris authorities have temporarily suspended the use of the non-drinking network for street cleaning, over fears that the fine spray of water thrown up by cleaning trucks could be inhaled.

The drinking water network is completely separate to the non-drinking water network, city authorities have stressed.

 

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HEALTH

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

Nearly 200 cases of cholera have been reported on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, which is struggling to contain the deadly epidemic.

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

“As of June 18th, 2024, 193 cases of cholera have been reported in Mayotte,” France’s Santé publique France health agency reported in its weekly update.

Of those, 172 were locally acquired cases, while 21 were in people infected in the neighbouring Comoros archipelago and countries on the African continent.

Cholera is an infectious disease typically causing severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It spreads easily in unsanitary conditions.

Mayotte, which is home to around 320,000 people, reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera in late April, according to officials in Paris.

Two people have died since the beginning of the epidemic, one of them a three-year-old girl.

Santé publique France warned there was a particularly high risk of transmission in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, “as long as access to drinking water and sanitation is unsatisfactory”.

French authorities have been criticised for failing to secure access to drinking water to prevent a cholera epidemic in its overseas territory.

President Emmanuel Macron called for cholera to be ‘consigned to the past’ when he hosted a summit on Thursday on vaccine production in Africa.

Many parts of Africa have recently seen fatal outbreaks of cholera, which has highlighted the shortage of local vaccine production.

The Comoros, which has been affected by a cholera epidemic for the past four months, has recorded 134 deaths and more than 8,700 cases, according to a report published by local authorities this month.

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