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Stephane Mulliez, director of the regional health service, told a news conference Tuesday that a biologist working at a hospital in the English Channel city of Llanjon had warned of a new strain when examining samples from dozens. of recently deceased patients.
Several victims have experienced the classic symptoms of COVID-19 coronavirus infection, although polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests performed on samples taken from the nasal cavity are generally very accurate.
Additional studies of blood and mucus deeper in the airways confirmed that the patients were infected with coronavirus. All were older people with comorbidities, Mulliez said.
“One possibility is that the virus spreads more rapidly from the upper respiratory tract to the lower respiratory tract,” Alain Tertre, director of the regional branch of the national health agency Sante Publique France, said during the conference.
Genome sequencing of samples at the Pasteur Institute in Paris confirmed a hitherto unknown coronavirus that had claimed more than 90,000 doses in France. human lives, choice.
As a result, testing and efforts to trace the contacts of those infected have been intensified to determine if the strain has spread to other regions, Mulliez said.
Because the new virus strain is more difficult to detect, the ARS has included it in the World Health Organization (WHO) List of Variants (VUI), but so far this pathogen is not considered dangerous enough. to be classified as a variant of concern. (VOC).
“Preliminary analyzes … show no increased risk or infectivity compared to the primary virus,” the ARS report said.
Only British, Brazilian, and coronavirus variants discovered in South Africa are currently on the VOC list. To date, hundreds of scientists around the world have discovered them.
But French Prime Minister Jean Castex told lawmakers Tuesday that the country’s entry into force [pandemijos] banga. The first was the outbreak of COVID-19 cases in March last year and the second in the fall.
The head of government pointed out that the intensive care units of Parisian hospitals are in danger of being overcrowded.
President Emmanuel Macron will meet with experts from the Advisory Committee on COVID-19 on Tuesday. An extraordinary cabinet meeting will be convened on Wednesday amid growing speculation that further restrictions may be imposed in the Paris region.
