[4] In January 2020, the French government ordered Charles de Gaulle and its associated carrier battle group to deploy to the Eastern Mediterranean for further operations against ISIL, after which it would transit through the Strait of Gibraltar and engage in multinational training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea.

The enactment of a strict lockdown to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic came two days after the ship left Brest, and the sailors were allowed shore leave that included seeing family members and visiting local commercial establishments.

[8][12] The nature of warships, which includes working with others in small enclosed areas and a lack of private quarters for the vast majority of crew, lent themselves to the rapid spread of the disease to a degree even greater than that seen on cruise ships.

[14] During this time, several common colds were registered on board, but the level of sick sailors was not above the ordinary for the frigid −5 °C (23 °F) temperature and strong winds of the region Charles de Gaulle was operating in.

Two sailors were medically scanned and found to be infected by the coronavirus, after which the French defense minister Florence Parly ordered the carrier to return to its home port of Toulon.

[14] On 15 April 2020, the Ministry of Armed Forces reported that, out of the 1,767 tests conducted on the members of the carrier battle group, 668 returned positive, with the vast majority of cases being aboard Charles de Gaulle.

In total 20 sailors were still ill.[26] Later analysis by physicians at the Military Instruction Hospital Sainte Anne in Toulon found that 60% of Charles de Gaulle's 1706 crewmembers were antibody-positive by the end of quarantine.