It is likely to liven up our summer, but where does it circulate the most?
The Delta variant, which is causing a resumption of the epidemic in our British neighbors, is already well established in France.
It represents "about 20%" of new cases, said Olivier Véran Tuesday on France Info.
And it could become a large majority in France by the end of the summer, believe many epidemiologists.
In reality, this rate does not correspond to the Delta variant itself.
This is the percentage of positive tests screened for which the L452R mutation was found.
Other variants display this mutation but "they are very little detected", indicated at the end of May Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin, of the infectious diseases department of Public Health France.
“When we look at all the sequences carrying the L452R mutation in June in France, the Delta variant represented 82%.
It is therefore the vast majority, ”she told us this Friday morning, during a press briefing.
Read also Delta variant: why its progress is so difficult to measure
Screening is one of two ways to follow the circulation of variants, the other being sequencing.
Until mid-June, only "suspected variants" appeared on the basis of one or more mutations identified.
Since that date, we no longer speak of a “variant suspicion” but of three mutations which are now systematically targeted: E484K, E484Q and L452R.
The proportion of positive tests bearing the L452R mutation makes it possible to approach that of the Delta variant, if not very precise.
The Landes logically the most affected
Thursday evening, Public Health published, for the first time, these indicators at the departmental level. We set aside the departments where less than 30 positive tests were screened, the percentages of each mutation then being impossible to interpret. Unsurprisingly, the most affected territory is the Landes (where the last stage of reopening has been postponed), with more than 80% of tests screened displaying the L452R mutation. Follow the Somme, Loir-et-Cher, and Savoie (complete list at the end of the article).
In other departments, particularly in Île-de-France, it is the E484K mutation that is most often identified.
This is notably carried by the Beta (called “South African”) and Gamma (called “Brazilian”) variants, which have the particularity of weakening the effectiveness of the vaccination.
The first real-life data, communicated by Public Health France on Thursday evening, confirm it: if a complete vaccination seems effective at 84.2% against the symptomatic forms in those 50 years and over, this rate is only 66.9 % against Beta and Gamma variants.
Nationally, the proportion of screened positive tests for which E484K was detected is also increasing, but in much smaller proportions than L452R (from 17 to 23% in three weeks).
The complete list of departments according to the percentage of tests screened with the L452R mutation:
Landes: 81.4%
Sum: 77.7%
Loir-et-Cher: 76.9%
Haute-Savoie: 65%
Jura: 61.2%
Alpes-Maritimes: 57%
Hauts-de-Seine: 49.6%
Calvados: 47%
Isère: 46.2%
Bas-Rhin: 45.7%
Moselle: 42.9%
Drome: 42.4%
Paris: 38.7%
Var: 38.6%
Charente-Maritime: 38.2%
Doubs: 37.5%
Vaucluse: 36.4%
Indre-et-Loire: 36.4%
Savoy: 35.5%
Loire-Atlantique: 34.3%
Ille-et-Vilaine: 31.7%
Seine-Saint-Denis: 31.7%
Seine-et-Marne: 31.2%
Gironde: 31%
Ain: 30.9%
Deux-Sèvres: 30.4%
Bouches-du-Rhône: 29.4%
Côte-d'Or: 27.7%
Val-de-Marne: 25.6%
Vienna: 25%
Pas-de-Calais: 24.8%
Rhône: 23.9%
Val-d'Oise: 23.5%
Puy-de-Dôme: 23%
Côtes-d'Armor: 22.6%
Aisne: 22.5%
Yvelines: 20.8%
Meurthe-et-Moselle: 20.5%
Tarn: 18.9%
Mayenne: 18.4%
Herault: 18.4%
Essonne: 17.6%
North: 17.4%
Oise: 17%
Seine-Maritime: 16.7%
Pyrénées-Atlantiques: 16.7%
Maine-et-Loire: 15.8%
Morbihan: 15.6%
Haute-Garonne: 14.3%
Finistère: 12.9%
Sarthe: 12.5%
Haut-Rhin: 12.4%
Loire: 12.2%
Pyrénées-Orientales: 12%
Sleeve: 11.9%
Loiret: 11.2%
Gard: 11.1%
Vendée: 10.3%
Eure: 9.8%
Saône-et-Loire: 9.4%
Marne: 8.2%
Reunion: 2%
Guyana: 0.4%
Martinique: 0%
