A predictable result.
A few days after the announcement of the detection, in the United Kingdom, of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus, a first case of contamination with this same variant was detected this Friday in Tours, announced the Ministry of Health.
What do we know about this patient?
Where was it detected?
What do we know about its potential impact on the evolution of the epidemic?
We take stock.
What we know about the patient detected in France
This is a man, of French nationality and residing in England, details the Directorate General of Health in a press release.
His case was detected in Tours.
The man had arrived "from London on December 19" and was "taken care of" in hospital two days later and tested positive.
“The result of the test evoking the variant circulating in the United Kingdom, sequencing was requested from the National Reference Center for Respiratory Infections Viruses, which today confirmed (Friday, Editor's note) the infection with the VOC variant 202012/01 », Explains the DGS.
Asymptomatic, he was then isolated at his home.
He is "doing well".
What we know about the variant
This is not the only variant of the coronavirus that is known.
In fact, "all viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, change over time, but most of these mutations or changes have no direct benefit for this virus, and could even prevent their spread," says the World Health Organization (WHO) in a press release dedicated to the variant detected in the United Kingdom.
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However, this variant is of concern because it appears to be more contagious than the original strain, according to several studies.
One of them estimates that this contagiousness is greater by “50% to 74%” and that this could have consequences on the number of deaths and hospitalizations linked to Covid-19 across the Channel.
But nothing shows at this stage that this "version" of the virus causes more serious forms.
How is the circulation of this variant monitored?
In France, a "contact-tracing" was immediately launched with the health professionals who took care of the infected patient in Tours.
A search for "his contact persons at risk" is carried out to isolate them immediately.
At the national level, Public Health France and the National Reference Centers are conducting increased surveillance to detect this variant of the virus on the territory, since the announcement of the United Kingdom.
The case detected in Tours may not be the only one.
"To date, several positive samples that may suggest the VOC 202012/01 variant are being sequenced by the CNR laboratories", specifies the Directorate General of Health (DGS).
France is also trying to limit as much as possible the spread of this variant on the territory: people departing from Great Britain and wishing to join France must perform a "sensitive and recent" test to find out if they are positive, and carriers of this variant, adds the DGS.
In the United Kingdom, multiple studies are being carried out to find out more "on the risks of transmission of the virus, the severity of the infection, the risks of reinfection and the antibody response to this variant", specifies the WHO.
Around the world, several countries have strengthened their detection system for this variant, which has made it possible to detect several cases, in particular among our neighbors in Europe.
What consequences for the vaccine?
Better resistance of this variant to vaccines, which have started to be distributed in the United States, the United Kingdom, and tomorrow in France, would represent a disaster scenario.
But this is not the most likely hypothesis in the eyes of scientists.
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"For the moment, there is no evidence to suggest that this vaccine is not effective against the new variant," Emer Cooke, director general of the European Medicines Agency, said on Monday, giving the green light to the product developed. by Pfizer-BioNTech.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna laboratories plan to conduct additional tests to confirm that the vaccine works on this variant.
For its part, the BioNTech laboratory has also assured to be able to provide a new vaccine "in six weeks" to "completely mimic the new mutation".
Which countries are affected?
This week, several countries announced the detection of patients carrying this variant initially reported in the United Kingdom, such as Belgium, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands and Switzerland, for Europe.
A good part of these cases appear to be imported from the United Kingdom.
In the rest of the world, cases have been reported in Lebanon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Japan.
The list is however likely to lengthen: this Saturday noon, it is Spain which announced the detection of new cases in turn.
In South Africa, another variant of the virus, with characteristics similar to that of the United Kingdom, has also been detected.