The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Fight against Covid-19: why variants are a game-changer

2021-01-24T21:01:29.805Z


Faced with the spread of variants, the President of the Scientific Council Jean-François Delfraissy appeared worried, while tensions


In Toulouse, the variant moved to the Saint-Exupéry nursing home.

In the leafy residence, he attacked three staff and eight boarders, one of whom recently died.

In Haute-Savoie, near Chamonix, we are waiting to know whether 14 young English people positive for the coronavirus are with the British clone.

Because of its high contagiousness, VOC 202012/01 - that's its name - is also causing trouble in one of the largest business schools.

At HEC, several cases have been detected, leading this weekend to a massive screening operation on the Jouy-en-Josas campus (Yvelines).

"How not to be worried?

I definitely am, blows Professor Djillali Annane, head of intensive care at Garches hospital (Hauts-de-Seine).

Especially since there is no surprise: across the Channel, the mutant arrived at the end of September to flare up in December, that leaves us two months.

However, it has been circulating in France for a few weeks already, ”continues the doctor, tired of a difficult night, having to refuse Covid-19 patients, who already occupy thirteen of his fifteen sheave beds.

READ ALSO>

Covid-19: "Faced with the variant, we have no choice but to re-define"


On BFMTV, the president of the Scientific Council, Jean-François Delfraissy was not more optimistic this Sunday evening: "The British, South African, Brazilian and now Californian mutants and variants are completely changing the situation", he says , going so far as to qualify them "as equivalent to a second pandemic" and seeing in Sars-Cov 2, a "diabolical virus, smarter than you think.

"

The only hope in the long term: vaccines, but they may suffer from supply tension.

On this point, the scientist also distanced himself from the Minister of Health.

When Olivier Véran imagines a vaccination of the entire population this summer, Delfraissy retorts not to believe in more than 40% of immunized in the same season.

Border controls

To slow the spread of new strains, and in particular the English one, border controls are stepping up.

European travelers must now show a white paw - a negative PCR test - to enter hexagonal soil.

A brake that can only be optimal if we know where and in what proportion the clone is spread over the territory.

Faced with this colossal stake, the timer is on.

This Monday, the final results of the first study carried out at the CNR, the national reference center for respiratory viruses in Lyon (Rhône) will be known.

In the process, Tuesday and Wednesday, a second so-called "flash" survey will begin there, confirms its coordinator, Professor Bruno Lina.

"The positive cases for the coronavirus will be sequenced, that is to say that we will study their complete genome in order to know whether or not it contains the modification", specifies Doctor Grégory Destras.

"France is not in a position to track him down well"

At the same time, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) sent this Saturday an "urgent" to professionals to inform them of the deployment of specific PCR kits.

They make it possible to “suspect” the mutant and thus trigger, without waiting for sequencing, a reinforced contact-tracing.

Morning essentials newsletter

A tour of the news to start the day

Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters

“Unfortunately, this is not enough.

France is not in a position to track the variants well, because its sequencing capacities are limited, well below those of the English, points out Professor Djillali Annane.

The monitoring is not done in real time, the figures are underestimated and exceeded as soon as they are communicated.

For example, the last official census, dating from Thursday, reports 131 cases.

However, according to Jean-François Delfraissy, the English variant, estimated at less than 2% in France, "is at a level of 7 to 9% in certain regions, such as the Paris region".

The professor did not hide it: "It will probably be necessary to go towards a reconfinement".

When?

In what form?

Keeping schools open or not?

To answer it, the week promises to be decisive.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2021-01-24

You may like

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.