A new variant of the coronavirus identified in France.

The Directorate General of Health (DGS) alerted, Monday, March 15, to the detection of a new variant of Covid-19 within a cluster in a hospital in Côtes-d'Armor, in Brittany.

If the first analyzes of this variant "do not allow to conclude either to a seriousness or to an increased transmissibility", according to the DGS, a worrying hypothesis: the possibility that this variant escapes the classic screening tests. 

In the meantime, this variant has been classified in the “to watch” category by the authorities.

This includes most of the thousands of variants that appear naturally in the world, and of which only a small proportion will ultimately pose particular public health problems, for example if they turn out to be more transmissible.

Reported in PCR negative patients

The health authorities first detected in Brittany several cases of patients presenting the symptoms of Covid-19, "attached to a cluster", but whose PCR tests were negative.

This is a cluster at the Lannion hospital center, in the Côtes-d'Armor.

On March 13, 79 cases were identified there, including 8 cases carrying the variant, confirmed by sequencing.

Analyzes carried out by the Pasteur Institute have revealed "a new variant [...] carrying nine mutations in the region encoding the S protein, but also in other viral regions", specified the DGS in a message to health professionals.

"An evaluation is underway in order to assess the possible impact of these genetic modifications on a lack of recognition by virological tests leading to an under-diagnosis", she continues.

"The first analyzes of this new variant do not allow to conclude either a seriousness or an increased transmissibility compared to the historical virus", indicates another press release from the DGS Monday evening, adding that "in-depth investigations are underway in order to better know this variant ".

The appearance of variants of the virus is a natural process, as the virus acquires mutations over time to ensure its survival.

At this point, three variants around the world are considered of particular concern, those that were first detected in England, South Africa and Japan (but in travelers from Brazil, hence its common name of " Brazilian variant ").

At the same time, there is a second category of variants, monitored by the international scientific community because of their potentially problematic genetic characteristics, but which still circulate only on a smaller scale.

With AFP

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