English, South African… and soon Japanese? Variants of Covid-19 have entered French territory via imported cases, and are spreading in the community. Christophe Rapp (military doctor) and Benjamin Wyplosz (infectiologist) explain the challenges of these mutations.
- SARS-Cov-2 mutates in different parts of the world, and acquires its own characteristics.
- In doubt about the impact of SARS-Cov-2 mutations, it is necessary, according to experts, to accelerate the vaccination campaign in France.
“It’s almost a new epidemic within the epidemic”. Invited on Monday January 11 by BFMTV and RMC, epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet, member of the Scientific Council, was alarmist. For him, the appearance of the British variant in France “completely changes the game”, because “this mutant spreads faster, 50% more than other strains”.
“We left for at least a year of variants”
Variants of Covid-19 have entered French territory via imported cases, and are spreading in the community. As of January 6, 2021, 19 cases of infections with the VOC 202012/01 variant (identified in the United Kingdom) and three cases of infections with the 501.V2 variant (identified in South Africa) have been confirmed in mainland France. Since then, the presence of the British variant has been identified in 7 regions, from the first case in Tours three weeks ago to the two people detected yesterday morning in Lille, via Marseille. Underestimated figures, according to specialists, who today speak at the very least of around thirty cases within France.
Elsewhere in the world, the WHO announced on Monday January 11 that it had been informed by Japan of the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus on its territory. “We left for at least a year of variants, because the more the virus circulates, the more it will mutate”, analyzes the military doctor Christophe Rapp, member of the HCSP and associate professor of the Val de Grace in the discipline of Infectious and Tropical Diseases. “As a general rule, mutations rather weaken viruses. Regarding those of Covid-19, the issues are at the level of diagnosis (tests), therapy (drugs) and resistance to vaccination”, continues the specialist.
“Preliminary work” and “uncertainties”
On the contagiousness of the British and South African variants of SARS-Cov-2, the ANSM is much less affirmative than Arnaud Fontanet, evoking “preliminary works” as evidence. In the UK and South Africa, “preliminary work is in favor of a higher transmissibility of this variant than that of the SARS-Cov-2 viruses currently circulating in France”, writes the health agency in a press release dated January 7, 2021.
In the laboratory, the British variant has characteristics that allow it to better penetrate the cell, and its viral loads are higher in the upper airways: we can therefore think that it is more contagious than the French SARS-Cov-2. The explosion of the epidemic in Great Britain also goes in this direction. Nevertheless, on this specific point, “There is uncertainty, we must be careful. To be sure of an increased contagiousness of 50 to 70%, other countries would have to be able to prove it”, analyzes Christophe Rapp.
He pursues :“we panic a lot about the English variant. But ultimately, its weight in the acceleration of the epidemic in Great Britain is certainly a little more modest than what is said. There are other factors in the spread of the coronavirus, such as the climate, immunity, respect for barrier measures, curfew… In France, we are not at all in the same situation as England.
“No escape from the immune response”
Moreover, these two variants of SARS-Cov-2 would not cause more serious Covid, and are still sensitive to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. “To date, there is no evidence of a greater severity of Covid-19 in infected people or of a possibility of escape from the immune response”, say ANSM experts.
In the event that the British variant is much more contagious and becomes predominant on French territory, there will nevertheless mechanically be more cases, and therefore potentially more serious cases. Ditto for the South African transfer.
“The game against variants is lost”
For Doctor Benjamin Wyplosz, the issue of variants remains above all vaccination, and the need to accelerate it as quickly as possible in France, before SARS-Cov-2 takes another form. “The longer we wait, the more mutations the virus will have. There has already been a first when it passed from China to Europe, making it much more virulent”, explains the infectious disease specialist from the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital.
“The game against variants is lost. The only way to catch up is to massively vaccinate the French population, with 200,000 vaccinations per week, and we are not at all in this context for the moment. “, évalue the health professional, who himself has already vaccinated 600 people. “To defeat this pandemic, we must all get vaccinated or catch the coronavirus, there is no alternative. The Pfizer vaccine is an extremely well tolerated vaccine, remarkably effective, it seems even from 8 days”, concludes Benjamin Wyplosz, convinced.
Over the past year, Covid-19 has killed 68,060 people in France, and 1.9 million deaths worldwide.
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