On December 25, French health authorities detected a case of contamination with the VOC 202012/01 variant of Sars-Cov-2, this version of the coronavirus very present in the United Kingdom.
The first detection in France
On Christmas Day, health organizations confirm the presence of the first case contaminated with the VOC variant on French national territory. It was detected in Tours, in the Center-Val de Loire region, in a man of French nationality residing in England. He arrived on December 19 from London, was taken care of by the university hospital on December 21 and detected positive for Covid-19. The person in question does not have any symptoms of the disease. As the result of his screening test recalled the variant circulating in the UK, “ sequencing was requested from the National Reference Center for Respiratory Infection Viruses “. On December 25, infection with the VOC variant was confirmed.
“A detection and surveillance system” put in place
The Londoner is currently isolated at his home and is doing well. Health representatives acted quickly thanks to ” contact-tracing », To proceed with the strict isolation of contact persons at risk. Indeed, Public Health France, national reference centers and analysis laboratories work together to identify possible ” possible cases of infection or carriage of the VOC variant 202012/01 “. The latter are responsible for informing the CNRs of any positive PCR test result, for a person returning from the United Kingdom or who has been in close contact with a person returning from this Country or of results recalling the new version of the coronavirus. . The same protocol is applied for individuals returning from South Africa, “ where another variant of SARS-CoV-2 is currently circulating actively ”.
Professionals mobilized
Since the discovery of this variant of the virus, several health organizations have been assigned a single essential mission: to immediately identify each infected patient to strictly isolate them as well as contact cases, the aim being to prevent the spread of Sars variants. Cov-2. This is the best way, and one of the most important, to curb the Covid-19 epidemic, with the application of barrier gestures. Today, ” several positive samples that may suggest the VOC 202012/01 variant are being sequenced by the CNR laboratories », After the reporting of several cases in different countries of Europe, in addition to the United Kingdom. Yet, action was taken quickly to “ limit the introduction of new variants on national territory ”, Including the presentation of a negative result for people arriving from Great Britain.