Variant Omicron: contact cases, even vaccinated, forced into isolation

It is a hardening which could concern many people: faced with the emergence of the Omicron variant, apparently more contagious than its predecessors, the French health authorities announced on Saturday November 27 that all those who will be contact cases of people infected with this variant of the coronavirus will be forced into isolation, whether or not they are vaccinated. Until then, this obligation to isolate oneself for seven days only concerned unvaccinated or immunocompromised contact cases.

In announcing this measure, the Ministry of Health stressed in a press release sent to health professionals and establishments that anyone who has been in contact with a “possible or confirmed” case of the Omicron variant should be considered to be “at high risk”. and placed in quarantine.

No case of a person infected with this new variant has yet been recorded in France. But “Omicron” patients have been confirmed in Belgium and Germany.

A very high number of mutations

The variant, baptized “Omicron”, would carry “a very high number of mutations”, South African virologist Tulio de Oliveira told a hastily called press conference. In total, at least ten mutations would have been observed for this variant, against two for the Delta and three for the Beta. “The concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can impact the behavior of the virus.worried Maria Van Kerkhove, technical manager of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Covid-19, during a virtual press briefing held on Thursday. It will take us a few weeks to understand the potential impact of this variant on vaccines.”

The WHO said “watch carefully” this new variant and called an emergency meeting on Friday 26 November. “Initial analyzes show that this variant has a large number of mutations that require and will be the subject of further study.”, thus explained the organization.