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| Workers clean the area in front of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris. AFP |
By Park Si-soo
Coronavirus was found in Paris's non-potable water source which is mainly used to clean streets and water public gardens, according to local reports.
French authorities have assured residents that there is no risk from tap water, saying drinking water for Paris comes from another "totally separate" water network. But it fell short of clearing questions about the possibility of coronavirus infection by contact with public facilities once soaked in coronavirus-contaminated water. It also didn't explain how the virus got into the water source.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is not technically impossible that the virus could be transmitted through water.
According to reports, Paris officials said on April 20 that "infinitesimal traces" of SARS-CoV-2 ― which causes COVID-19 ― were found "in the last 48 hours" in four samples of 27 taken from the water. The water source was immediately suspended from use "as a precaution."
Local English newspaper The Connexion reported Paris has two independent water networks that separate drinking water from non-drinking water, as a legacy of systems dating back to the 19th century.
"The non-potable water network is fed by what we might call 'raw' water, from the Seine and the Ourcq canal, and is not given intensive treatment," the newspaper quoted the Paris mayor as saying.
Karine Lacombe, head of infectious diseases at the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, told Le Monde newspaper: "(Even) though we know that (the virus) contains genetic material, we know that the virus cannot spread in the environment, because it needs human cells and to attach onto enzymes of human cells to multiply."
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