A first case of the South African variant of Covid-19 detected in France

A first case of contamination with the Covid-19 virus variant identified in South Africa has been detected in France (Illustration) -

A first case of contamination with the variant of the Covid-19 virus identified in South Africa has been detected in France, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday, a few days after the first confirmed case of the British variant.

This variant, which like that of the United Kingdom could be more transmissible, was confirmed on Wednesday in a man returning from South Africa living in the Haut-Rhin, near the Swiss border.

The person "immediately isolated at home" as soon as symptoms appeared

On his return from a stay in South Africa, the man who had developed symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 performed an RT-PCR test in Switzerland.

The test having been positive, a sequencing of the virus was carried out, confirming the variant called "501.V2", identified in South Africa in October and which is responsible in this country for a large majority of new cases.

The person now healed, "immediately isolated himself at his home as soon as symptoms appeared" and "no risky contact was identified", assured the ministry.

Health authorities "mobilized" to identify each infected patient

For the two variants, - British and South African - which could be more transmissible but not intrinsically more dangerous, the health authorities “are mobilized to identify as early as possible each infected patient to isolate them, isolate their contacts and test them, and thus avoid the spread of variants of SARS-CoV-2 on the national territory ”, assured the ministry.

For each person returning from the United Kingdom or South Africa who would test positive for Covid-19, the samples must be sequenced to confirm the presence or not of a variant of the virus.

• epidemic

• Health

• South Africa

• Contamination

• Coronavirus

• Covid 19