• The Delta variant appeared in India in April.

    According to the Minister of Health, it represents between 2 and 4% of confirmed cases currently in France.

  • More contagious than its predecessors, it has milder symptoms and affects more young people, who are less likely to be vaccinated than seniors at the moment.

  • The best way to fight against this variant remains vaccination.

Appeared last April, the Delta variant of the coronavirus is unveiled slowly and leaves the threat of a strong spread.

If Olivier Véran indicated, this Tuesday, that he represents "between 2% and 4% of the positive cases reported every day in France", difficult to know what will be its evolution in the weeks to come.

While Jean Castex on Wednesday sounded the death knell for wearing a mask outside (from Thursday) and that of the curfew (from Sunday),

20 Minutes

takes stock of this virus that appeared in India with Michaël Rochoy, general practitioner in Outreau (62), epidemiology researcher and co-founder of the “Stop-postillons” collective.

What about the situation in France?

On May 25, Public Health France estimated the representation of the Delta variant at 0.5% of the samples taken in the country (nearly 88% for the Alpha variant).

The figures presented by the Minister of Health on Tuesday do not therefore show an explosion in the number of cases, as has been the case in the United Kingdom, where it now represents more than 90% of proven cases.

But for Michaël Rochoy, the Delta should continue to gain ground: “It has a selective advantage over the other known variants.

As it reproduces more and faster than the others, it could eventually become the majority.

What the doctor calls "Darwinian selection of viruses."

How is it different?

In addition to its biological transmission “qualities”, which seem superior to its predecessors, the Delta has other characteristics.

In particular its symptoms: they are more discreet.

Loss of taste and smell seem less present in carriers.

“The symptoms are more like a cold than a severe flu,” explains Michaël Rochoy.

A discretion that lowers the vigilance of its carriers.

Including young people, particularly affected by this Delta variant, and who "more often adopt risky behavior".

Young people who started to be vaccinated much later than their elders.

Should we fear an offensive from the Delta this summer?

The summer of 2020 has shown it, the Covid-19 does not like the heat.

Not because it suffocates, like a human being in a heat wave, but because our habits are changing.

"It is the behavioral situation that made it stagnate last year, the fact that people shut themselves up less, and therefore take fewer risks," explains Michaël Rochoy.

He adds that if the virus is more contagious, it will also be "countered by the immunity gained compared to 2020, between those who have already been infected and the vaccination".

A new wave in September is feared, but it is still too early to say, according to the doctor: “Especially since masks are mandatory in the workplace, which was not the case before the start of the school year. last year.

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Will Jean Castex's announcements be a game-changer?

The Prime Minister therefore announced this Wednesday new deconfinement measures: no more wearing the compulsory mask outdoors (except gatherings), and end of the curfew at 11 p.m. For Michaël Rochoy, these measures will not impact the development of the Covid-19, and therefore of the Delta variant: "Yet a great defender of the wearing of a mask, I have always said that it was useless outdoors, outside of typical gatherings. markets, school trips, queues… ”

The end of the curfew will not change the situation either, according to the doctor, who prefers to go back on previous measures: the reopening of indoor restaurants and the end of the curfew at 9 p.m. “We know, since a study in 2020, that restaurants are the most risky behavior, in front of sports halls. It is a mistake to let them reopen, ”he explains. What about the 9 p.m. curfew? “He was avoiding a second serve. For the researcher, a curfew with restaurants open is like "banning a butter knife by allowing a power saw".

To avoid the spread of the Delta, Michaël Rochoy insists on the weapons common to all the variants.

In addition to the systematic wearing of the mask indoors and during outdoor gatherings.

double vaccination is the most effective weapon.

It avoids hospitalizations, in addition to limiting contamination: “This could spare us an Epsilon variant which would be even more dangerous.

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  • Health

  • Deconfinement

  • Jean Castex

  • Covid 19

  • Olivier Véran

  • Coronavirus