Illustration of the entrance to a hospital here confined due to the coronavirus epidemic.
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C. Allain / 20 Minutes
A new “Breton variant” has been detected in patients treated at the Lannion hospital center, in the Côtes d'Armor.
Eight positive cases were recorded and all of them died.
The greater "dangerousness" of the variant is not established, but it was not detected in seven of the eight cases.
A strengthening of tracing and vaccination will be initiated from Morlaix to Saint-Brieuc.
Since the appearance of the term "Breton variant", taunts are rife on social networks and some like to imagine a ploy to ward off Parisians, while a rumor of reconfinement swells.
The reality is much more cruel.
Detected at the Lannion hospital center, in the Côtes d'Armor, this variant would have already caused the death of the eight patients in whom it was identified.
Is it more dangerous?
At this stage, the Regional Health Agency ensures that this is not the case.
“These patients were hospitalized with a fairly critical clinical condition.
But that does not at all indicate the severity of the variant, ”assures Stéphane Mulliez, its director.
All of the people who contracted it were elderly and had symptoms of co-morbidities.
Called "20C", this new variant is however the subject of increased attention from the authorities.
The reason ?
His "discretion".
Seven of the eight PCR tests performed on infected patients were negative.
It was the hospital biologist who sounded the alert about patients presenting "typical symptoms of Covid" with "sometimes" negative PCR test results, explained Stéphane Mulliez.
New tests, serological or with “deeper respiratory samples”, have made it possible to identify the presence of Covid-19.
An investigation into the samples will be carried out
In total, 79 positive cases were recorded in the Lannion hospital center where this variant was identified.
Only eight cases carrying this variant have so far been detected.
But how many other potential cases?
The health authorities do not know it and have launched a "flash" investigation to study the sequencing of positive samples taken in recent weeks in the region and elsewhere in France.
"One of the avenues is that the virus passes more rapidly between the upper respiratory tract and the lower respiratory tract," said Alain Tertre, head of the regional unit of Public Health France.
“But these are assumptions,” he said.
As of Monday, the World Health Organization had been informed and the variant classified "under surveillance" by the French authorities.
At this stage, doctors do not consider the "20C" as "worrying" but seek to know why it was not detected during the PCR screenings.
The ARS announces in particular a more extensive tracing of contact cases in order to limit the spread of the virus.
"We do not know, today, if the variant is more or less contagious", assumes its director.
As of Monday, the Ministry of Health had sent a note to all health professionals to alert them of the presence of a new variant and the conduct to be adopted to better detect it.
For now, the communities of communes of Guingamp, Lannion, Saint-Brieuc, Leff Armor, but also that of Morlaix, in Finistère, are being observed very closely.
If the incidence rates remain fairly low compared to the national average, they have increased significantly for several days, forcing the prefectures to take new measures.
Our file on the coronavirus
The appearance of variants is a natural process, with the virus acquiring mutations over time to ensure its survival.
More than 4,000 SARS-CoV-2 variants have been identified worldwide, according to British health services.
Only three are considered to be of “concern” (English, South African and Brazilian).
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