(Fighting New Coronary Pneumonia) France confirms first case of mutant new coronavirus infection
China News Service, Paris, December 25 (Reporter Li Yang) French officials announced late on Christmas night on the 25th that France had confirmed the first case of mutated new crown virus infection and the confirmed patient has been quarantined.
The French Health Agency stated in a press release that the confirmed patient was a French citizen resident in the UK.
He was diagnosed with a mutant virus in Tours.
He returned to France from the UK on December 19 and tested positive for the new crown virus two days later.
The analysis results on the 25th showed that the patient was infected with a mutant virus.
The French Health Agency stated that the patient has been quarantined. He is an asymptomatic infected person and is currently in good condition.
Health professionals have launched contact tracing to find close contacts of the patient in order to isolate them.
French laboratories are performing genetic sequencing on some positive samples that may be infected with mutated viruses.
Tours is a city in the Midwest of France, about 200 kilometers from Paris.
It is not clear whether the confirmed patient of the mutant virus passed through Paris on his way back to France from the UK.
Experts from the Pasteur Institute in France said that the first confirmed case of mutated new coronavirus infection in France is "not surprising."
In the opinion of experts, it is inevitable that a mutant virus is found in France.
French Minister of Health Vilan has previously stated that the possibility that the mutated virus has spread in France is not ruled out.
In order to prevent the spread of the mutant new crown virus, France suspended the entry of British land, sea and air traffic from midnight on December 20.
From the 23rd, people from France and other countries can enter France from the UK with a negative test for the new coronavirus within 72 hours.
As France is close to the United Kingdom and the two countries have close transportation links, all walks of life in France are more concerned about the mutant virus.
At present, mutated new coronaviruses have been discovered in many European countries. Preliminary analysis suggests that this mutated virus may be more likely to spread from person to person, but there is no evidence that mutated viruses cause a higher mortality rate.
According to the epidemic data released by the French Ministry of Health that night, there were 20,262 newly confirmed cases in France on the 25th, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases was 2,547,771.
The number of deaths from new coronary pneumonia in France is currently 62,427, with 159 new deaths.
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