The flagship aircraft carrier of France, Charles de Gaulle, is returning to its home port early after around 40 crew members showed signs of coronavirus symptoms, the Ministry of Armed Forces said on Wednesday.

This comes a day following news of at least two crewmen of the U.S. Navy's USS Nimitz aircraft carrier had tested positive for Covid-19. On board the nuclear-powered carrier, which had participated most recently in exercises with northern European navies in the Baltic Sea, were crewmen under strict medical observation.

All of this follows a series of events covering an outbreak of the virus on board the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt that started last month and came to head Wednesday with the resignation of the Navy's Acting Secretary.

The infected sailors have been put in isolated confinement out of precaution, French government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye stated.

A medical team equipped with test kits was scheduled to embark on the Charles de Gaulle to verify whether any crew members had contracted the disease and, if so, to avoid further spread of the virus, officials said.

Ship meetings were restricted and sanitary standards improved, including the disinfection of public rooms, telephones and computers after every use.

After participating in Operation Chammal, which aims to counter Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, the French carrier, which can carry about 2,000 sailors, had been stationed in the Atlantic as part of a NATO military drill.  The ship was getting ready for its return to the Mediterranean.

The U.S. last week Navy fired the captain of his command of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, after a leak of the scathing letter he sent to higher-ups requesting tougher action to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus on board the ship.

U.S. Navy officials disclosed that at least 230 crew members of the nuclear-powered USS Theodore Roosevelt tested positive of the coronavirus as of Tuesday.

It is not clear yet where the crew of the French aircraft carrier may have been first exposed to the virus. The Belgian Ministry of Defense, however, announced on March 25 that at least one sailor on the Karel Doorman Class Frigate Leopold I had been found to have been infected with the disease. 

The Leopold I, which is now back at his Zeebrugge homeport, had sailed for a while as part of the carrier strike group of Charles de Gaulle and its crew had engaged with their French counterparts.