Called BA.2, this sub-variant has been spotted in several countries around the world, especially in Europe.
“There are variants quite regularly,” recalled the Minister of Health Olivier Véran on Thursday evening during a press conference with the Prime Minister.
"For what we know so far, it more or less matches the characteristics we know of Omicron."
He's not "game changing" at this point.
Like the Delta variant before it, the Omicron variant, by replicating, has generated "little brothers", sub-lineages which contain one or two mutations compared to the original genome.
For the moment, the precise characteristics of the sub-variant have not been analyzed.
But certain data attract attention: it would thus have become the majority in Denmark where the number of daily cases has started to rise again for a few days.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which has classified Omicron as a "variant of concern", does not at this stage make a distinction with the BA.2 subvariant.
"We have an international situation where the Omicron variant circulates a lot, it is normal that we observe sub-lineages over time," said the French public health agency on Friday.
"What interests us is whether it has different characteristics in terms of contagiousness, immune escape or severity," she continued.
To date, the variant has been detected in France, "but at very low levels".
In Denmark, on the other hand, it is gradually replacing the BA.1, the "classic" Omicron variant.
“The Danish authorities have no explanation for this phenomenon but it is being closely monitored” according to the public health agency.
France for its part "closely follows the data which will be produced by Denmark".
© 2022 AFP