The faster emergence of variants of the coronavirus in certain regions revives the hypothesis of localized restrictive measures, with the Moselle in the front line, where the Minister of Health visited on Friday February 12.
On February 4, when Jean Castex had held his press conference to announce that there would be no third confinement, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran had however warned against “an epidemic within the epidemic”, in suggesting the presence of the coronavirus variants.
The formula had surprised but it now takes on its full meaning: will the “classic” coronavirus, which we have known since March 2020, will it give way to its English, South African or Brazilian variants, which are much more contagious?
We are indeed facing the emergence of a new risk. These variants do not constitute a potential threat but a very real one In a few weeks, “the proportion of patients affected by these new forms of the virus has increased from around 3.3% on January 8 to 14% today”, estimated Jean Castex on February 4, saying they feared an “epidemic outbreak”.
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Flamed due to variants in Moselle
The concern grows as the cases of variants multiply all over France without one yet knowing precisely the extent of these contaminations. On Wednesday, Professor Bruno Lina explained that the Brazilian and South African variants were “present in France, but with much lower levels of penetration than the British variant”.
Thursday evening, during his press conference, Olivier Véran indicated that the British variant would represent between 20 and 25% of new cases, or five times more than the South African and Brazilian variants, estimated respectively between 4 and 5% of contaminations. . And these variants also surprise by their contagiousness. A first case of serious reinfection by the South African variant of the coronavirus has thus been described by French researchers, the Paris hospitals (AP-HP) said yesterday.
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Brazilian and South African variants: Moselle cases worry the government
The faster emergence of variants of the coronavirus in certain regions has in any case revived the hypothesis of localized restrictive measures, such as local reconfigurations, which, however, divide elected officials and which the government has always refused to put in place in the past.
As of the announcement Thursday evening of the identification of more than 300 cases suspected of being South African or Brazilian variants in the Moselle department – one of the metropolitan departments with the highest incidence rate – the Mayor (LR) of Metz François Grosdidier spoke in favor of local reconfinement.
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The president (UDI) of the departmental council, Patrick Weiten, estimated him that he was “not convinced that the total (regional) containment gives definitive results”, given the border exchanges. “There are different options. The first proposal is to close from tonight [vendredi] elementary schools, colleges and high schools […]. The second provision is to put in place a curfew on weekends, Saturday around 4 pm, and Sunday ”.
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The “vaccine man” appointed by the government, Alain Fisher, told him on Friday that it was necessary to be careful about the interpretation of the figures. “The consequences are not at all the same if it is a rebalancing in the competition between the variants, or a surge of the disease,” he said.
100 new cases per day
Faced with the significant increase in contaminations in Moselle, Olivier Véran traveled to this department on Friday afternoon where there are 100 new cases per day attributable to variants. The minister announced the strengthening of the local screening and vaccination policy, but no local containment. “Any case will be considered as a suspected variant until proven otherwise, and the duration of isolation increased to 10 days,” he explained.
Vaccination centers will be kept open this weekend with additional doses. A discussion should begin on the closure of schools that will be on vacation next Friday evening.
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