Céline Géraud 6:18 a.m., March 31, 2022, modified at 6:18 a.m., March 31, 2022

For several weeks, France has been facing an outbreak of Covid-19 cases, due to the rise of the BA.2 variant.

On Wednesday, the bar of 200,000 cases was even crossed.

However, several specialists agree to refute the idea of ​​​​a sixth wave, but rather speak of a wave of reinfection.

For several days, France has been facing the push of the BA.2 sub-variant, Omicron's little brother, which in fact represents more than 73% of contamination currently.

Since then, many specialists have come up with a new hypothesis.

What if this new wave was that of reinfection?

Between 35 and 40 million French people have already been infected at least once.

We also know that after contamination by Omicron, the immune response generated is weaker.

The consequence is that our antibodies are less resistant to fight against this wave of reinfection against the BA.2 variant, which is 30 times more contagious.

"It affects slightly younger populations," explains Frédéric Blancheotte, president of the union of biologists.

"It does indeed give a certain number of young people the possibility of being reservoirs of the virus. And above all, we have a virus that is actively circulating, without necessarily the vaccination that we already had several months ago being able to allow us to defend ourselves there", he explains at the microphone of Europe 1.

Cases of the BA.3 variant identified in France

A version confirmed by Bernard Jomier, doctor, senator and president of the fact-finding mission against Covid-19.

According to him, these 200,000 cases do not cause more concern than that and he refuses to speak of a sixth wave, but rather of a new epidemic to which we must adapt: ​​“The virus is no longer the same. We have to adapt our reactions and therefore it is logical that we do not stop the life of society and that we do not take strict measures", he explains, before highlighting the positive effects of vaccination, which made it possible to avoid "a new wave in hospitals".

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So, inevitably, the circulation of the virus is facilitated by the lifting of restrictions and the relaxation of barrier gestures.

There are also cases of rapid reinfection, only four to six weeks between two contaminations, but this phenomenon remains for the moment a minority.

Finally, according to information from Europe 1, cases of BA.3 sub-variants have recently been identified.