Bordeaux (AFP)

Screening and vaccination operations will be stepped up on Wednesday in the Bordeaux district affected by a case of a "worrying variant" of Covid, with the opening of a new vaccination center, announced the director of the ARS of Nouvelle -Aquitaine, Benoît Elleboode, during a press conference.

The new center, which will be installed in the entertainment center of the Bacalan district, will open Wednesday from 2 p.m., to then operate every day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., said the mayor of Bordeaux Pierre Hurmic.

According to Mr. Elleboode, it will include "two lines of vaccinations and 200 vaccinations" can be performed there per day.

Doses will also be provided to pharmacists and general practitioners, while the Bordeaux vaccination mega-center will also be able to vaccinate the inhabitants of Bacalan, where "more than 900 people have been tested" to date, he said.

"We have planned three weeks to finish vaccinating the 10,000 inhabitants" of Bacalan, he said.

"Last week we had informed of 51 cases of Covid with this particular mutation" and we are "today at 60 cases" in the district of Bacalan, also indicated Mr. Elleboode, recalling that this particular mutation "suggests of a more contaminating aspect ".

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But "so far none of the people who have tested positive for this variant have had a serious form and are hospitalized and no one has been vaccinated either among" those affected, which shows that "the vaccine is effective against this variant ", he relativized.

The strategy put in place with local and national authorities was from the start "to be very reactive collectively to set up more tests, more tracing and more vaccines", he argued.

In total, 19,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be provided in Bordeaux, significantly more than the 16,000 doses deemed necessary, he recalled.

The prefect of Bordeaux Fabienne Buccio, for her part, called not to "lower your guard".

"We still have room for improvement in the face of reckless attitudes," she said, specifying that this weekend had to be interrupted the start of a rave party with 120 people in Bordeaux as well as the organization of 'a lottery game for elderly people in the suburbs, in Lormont.

© 2021 AFP