Identified for the first time in Colombia in January, the new variant of the coronavirus, called Mu, which according to the WHO could potentially resist vaccines, is for the moment "little present in France", indicated the agency Public Health France, this Friday.

The B.1.621 variant, according to scientific nomenclature, was classified at the end of August as "variant to follow" by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Potentially resistant to vaccines

According to the WHO, this variant has mutations that could indicate a risk of "immune escape" (resistance to vaccines), and more studies are needed to better understand its characteristics.

It first appeared in Colombia, on the Atlantic coast, in January.

Since then, he has been "under close surveillance", but seems for the moment "very little present in France," said Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin of the infectious diseases department of Public Health France (SPF) on Friday during a weekly press briefing. .

"Very sporadically detected in Europe"

And its presence "does not seem to have increased recently" in the country, as well as elsewhere in Europe, she stressed.

In France, it even seems to "decrease in August" whereas it had "slightly increased" in June / July.

However, the health authorities will follow "very carefully" its development over the coming weeks.

Another variant under surveillance is a variant spotted in South Africa, known as C.1.2, reported last week and whose frequency has gradually increased in recent months in that country.

“The data are still patchy,” said Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin.

"Detected very sporadically in Europe", it is not in France "to date", she continued.

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