The Minister of Health gave an update on Thursday on the evolution of the circulation of Covid-19 variants in France.
Olivier Véran did not make any new announcements but was concerned about the increase in cases of Brazilian and South African variants.
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Olivier Véran wanted to separate the variants into two categories.
The British first,
"more contagious",
but which would not resist current vaccines.
“The British variant is responsible for 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 infections today.
The curfew, respect for barrier gestures, management measures have already enabled us to slow the spread of this variant,
”he said.
The variant now represents 20 to 25% of contaminations against 15% last week.
Olivier Véran quickly passed on a potential reconfinement, repeating that the government would do everything possible to avoid such a measure: “
The next few weeks will tell us if this was enough or if we will have to resolve to reconfine the country.
We find that we have already saved time and by holding together we hope to gain enough time to avoid a re-containment.
However, we will have to do so if we were to see an exponential growth in contamination and a proven risk of hospital saturation.
For now, this is not the case. ”
The minister has, in fact, assured that the number of contaminations remains stable and that the health pressure
"remains strong but it is not increasing".
If the South African and Brazilian variants circulate less, they are nonetheless worrying the government.
“They are also more contagious and they could lead to re-infections of people who have already had Covid.
They manage to bypass immunity and they are less sensitive to vaccines ”.
The minister also pointed out the responsibility of these variants in the epidemic wave that hit Mayotte.
Olivier Véran also announced the results of a study based on 17,000 positive test samples.
“
The proportion of viruses that present mutations suggestive of the Brazilian and South African variants has increased.
It would be of the order of 4 to 5% nationwide
”.
Not all departments are affected in the same way.
Nearly 40 cases have been identified in Dordogne and 300 cases in Moselle in just four days, adding to the 200 detected the previous days, for example.
“The most worrying situation is in Moselle.
But we do not know why
”, has also agreed the Minister.