Omicron stole the show.
Surely because he is more dangerous.
But no one yet knows the real impact of the new mutant B.1.640, found for the first time in the Republic of Congo at the end of September.
Unlike his cousins, he did not inherit a Greek letter and the World Health Organization does not consider him a "variant of concern or of interest".
At least not at the moment.
It is "under evaluation", indicates Public Health France.
"We are monitoring it thoroughly," warns virologist Bruno Lina, in Lyon.
It all started in October, in Brittany.
A Nantes native, freshly returned from the Congo, would have transmitted the variant to a family during an evening in Finistère.
A few days later, in the same town, in Bannalec, twenty-four positive cases were identified, including 18 students in a primary school.
Several classes are closing.
In eight patients, scientists then discovered an "abnormal" and "very particular" strain of the virus.
Previously, B.1.640 had already been spotted in the UK, Scotland, Switzerland and Italy.
"A particular mutation profile"
A month and a half later, in mid-November, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, mentioned this new mutant for the first time: “You may have heard of a Congolese variant. Eight cases were identified in the Republic of the Congo and a family cluster was discovered at the end of September in returnees. (…) I'm not saying that to worry, nothing indicates that this variant is particularly dangerous, but to emphasize that our ability to track variants is very strong. "
Do we know more today?
"It has a particular profile of mutations, it has been found in children and people vaccinated almost everywhere: in the Paca region, in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, in Aquitaine and in Île-de-France", explains the professor. Bruno Lina, who announces that "about fifty" cases have been detected in France.
"It is spreading and circulating at the same time as the Delta," he continues.
We are the country that brings in the most.
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