VARYING COVID. The variant uk of the coronavirus would now be 14% of the positive tests in France according to the results of the new investigation “Flash” survey conducted in late January. Olivier Véran said that four cases of the variant of the brazilian had been detected in the Var…
Contents Variant of the Covid France Card movement of variants in France Variant of the Covid-to-Paris and Ile-de-France Variant English of the Covid Variant of south africa’s Covid-Varying brazilian Covid Ranging from california to the Covid-Varying bavarian Covid-Varying, changing or new strain ? Variant more contagious ? Variant more serious ? Variant of the Covid children between Covid and masks Variant resistant to the vaccine ? The mutation E484K
variants of the coronavirus intensify their movement in France. It is the Prime minister, Jean Castex and the minister of Health Olivier Véran, who have delivered this information in a press conference on Thursday 4 February. While the variants of the so-called “English” and “south african” were already listed on the territory, four cases of infection with the varying brazilian have been detected in the Var according to Olivier Véran. The first on the French soil. The minister of Health has, in particular, spoke of a woman who was returning from Manaus, the epicentre of the epidemic in Brazil. “It had been tested before the departure, a few days previously, and was presented symptoms shortly after his arrival in France,” he said, adding that”a number of case contacts around it have been placed in isolation”.
“variants brazilians and south africans worry us even more than the variant English. These are more contagious, more dangerous,” said Olivier Véran, who has, however, spoken of a “traffic control”. In the detail, “the variant English increases of approximately 50% per week, compared to 80 to 100%” in neighbouring countries, such as Portugal, according to him.
“These variants do not constitute a potential threat, but real”, which “can lead to disease outbreaks, as well as in the United Kingdom, Ireland or Portugal, was accused by Jean Castex. The Prime minister is based on the latest data of the “Flash” survey, conducted on 26 and 27 January, and which encrypt the variants of the Covid France to 14% of the positive tests (against 3% in the beginning of January). Thursday morning in several media outlets, professor Bruno Lina, a member of the scientific Council and in charge of the steering of these investigations, “Flash”, had delivered these numbers, which are still preliminary results. The virologist had reported that France seemed to be facing a real progression of the variants, but not “explosive”, calling it instead of “linear and continuous”. Bruno Lina stressed finally strong regional differences, with increased movement of variants in the Ile-de-France including confirming several alerts in recent days.
The results of the latest survey “Flash”
In his last point weekly epidemiological unveiled Thursday, 4 February, public Health France has presented the preliminary results of this investigation “Flash”, the second, conducted on 26 and 27 January after a first wave on 7 and 8 January. The goal of this type of inquiry is to “make a map” of the spread of the variants of the Covid”. It has been proposed to all of the laboratories of medical biology (LBM) in public and private by the NRC Virus respiratory infections (associated Laboratory of Lyon, Pr Bruno Lina) and public Health France, in collaboration with a network of virologists hospital coordinated by the ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases. 136 laboratories spread across 15 regions of metropolitan France and overseas participated in the second wave (26 and 27 January) for a total of 95 of 306 samples RT-PCR, of which 7 657 positive (positivity rate = 8,0%).
While the first study concluded that the variant 20I/501Y.V1 (English) was responsible for 3.3% of the cases of Covid-19 diagnosed by RT-PCR in France in early January, this second wave indicates that the rate would be increased to at least 14%. The tests analyzed by 78 laboratories using a sputtering technique TFS* (428 discordant for 3 065 RT-PCR positive) resulted in 14.0% of “suspected variants” English. 45 laboratories using a screening by RT-PCR* specific* have highlighted them to 14.6% in the suspicions of variants 20I/501Y.V1 (English) or 20H/501Y.V2 (south african) or 20J/501Y.V3 (brazilian). Here are some of the results of the study :
Proportion of preliminary results of RT-PCR discordant, by region of the laboratory sample, Flash Survey #2, January 27, 2021, France
Area of the laboratory sample Screening TFS Screening N501Y Brittany 0,0% 33.6% And Is Great With 14.8% 23.7% Of the Île-de-France 19,5% 18.0% in the New Aquitaine From 13.4% To 16.1%, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 4.9% To 13.5% For the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’azur And 6.8% To 11.2% Occitania, A 20.2% 10.1% From Hauts de France To 12.7% 7.7% To Normandy By 4.6%, 5.2%, And Centre-Val de Loire 6,6% – Total France 14,0% to 14.6%
Precision : on account of low numbers (the number of participating laboratories and/or number of RT-PCR screened included in the analysis), the results are not mentioned for the regions in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Corsica, Loire valley, Guadeloupe and Réunion.
*Screening alternative B. 1.1.7 (“English”) of the coronavirus, but also variants 501.V2 (“south-african”), P. 1 (brazilian), L452R (california) or bavarian, is that these would be more contagious that the dominant strain in Europe and in the world. A first report of the Nervtag, the group responsible for advising the british government on the respiratory virus, suggested as early as mid-December that the variant known as the “English” were “a selective advantage compared to the other variants” of the virus and has seen an “exponential growth during a period during which national measures to lock in place”. Importantly, mutations of the coronavirus “focuses mainly on the protein Spike (spicules)”, said the report, in other words, the points that are located at the surface of the coronavirus and allow it to attach to the cells to penetrate, playing a key role in viral infection.
another study conducted by several british scholars and published on the scientific forum Virological.org, has also hinted very quickly that this form of the Covid would be more contagious. It is a question, especially one of the common mutations in at least three new strains, in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil : the mutation N501Y, related precisely to the Spikes of the coronavirus. One of the conclusions of the researchers is that the coronavirus would have suffered “a surprisingly large number of genetic changes, particularly in the area of the receptor binding of the virus in the human body”.
Up to 50% or 70% more contagious
these are The first elements that have, in fact, that Boris Johnson mid-December that the new mutation could be transmitted up to 70% more easily,” while the minister of Health, Matt Hancock, mentioned before the holidays a variant of “out of control”. Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, has also expressed concern, in a press release published on 19 December. He confirmed that “the advisory group on new and emerging threats of respiratory viruses (Nervtag) saw now that this new strain could spread more quickly than the other variants of the virus”. “It seems that this virus is much more infectious than the previous strain”, added professor John Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the 21st of December, on the Science Media Centre.
A report published on December 31, by researchers from Imperial College London, who have analyzed thousands of virus genomes of Sars-CoV-2 sequenced between October and December, has confirmed that the variant had a “significant advantage” in terms of contagiousness : 50% to 75% more contagious, or a reproductive rate of the virus (R) between 0.4 and 0.7 higher than the virus usual. A british study published on January 4, has also confirmed that this mutant form of the virus would be more rapid in its transmission. A strain “50% to 74%” more contagious was one of the authors, Nick Davies, a biologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
variants of south africa and brazil have been the subject of similar analyses, including a study on the varying “Manaus” and published on the 12th of January in Virological.org, which suggests it’s also an increased spread. On the varying of south africa, a panel of local experts, quoted by the AFP on January 19, came to some conclusions close enough : the 510Y.V2 is not deadly but it would be 1.5 times more contagious they have concluded through a series of data. This mutant would be “50% more transmissible,” but “nothing indicates that the new variant is more severe,” said professor Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and co-chair of the scientific committee at the south african department of health.
conflicting conclusions on the contagiousness
in Mid-December, american experts had reviewed the first studies on the new strain of the coronavirus, with an eye more measured, finding that there was no evidence of an infectious higher. “There is no tangible evidence that this virus is more contagious,” but “there is clear evidence that it is more common in the population”, had been informed Moncef Slaoui, the senior advisor of the government’s programme of vaccination, on the occasion of a press conference, which was attended by the AFP before the holidays.
“The evidence is still insufficient to give a firm opinion on the question of whether the virus has really increased transmission”, also said professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the university of Nottingham, in comments picked up by the BBC on the same day. A more optimistic view it also in the beginning, the world health Organization (WHO) had rejected before Christmas the idea of a variant “out of control”, indicating that the rate of incidence of the virus had been high during the first wave without that, the situation is beyond the control of health authorities.
Interviewed on the subject in France, Jean-François Delfraissy, chairman of the scientific Council, was first advocated caution, not alarm. “The fear, it is a true mutation in the Spike protein, that is to say, that which allows the virus to cling to. However, the one described by the English gate on this protein, and the data suggest that the virus may be more infectious. This needs to be confirmed. I’m not worried because we have already raised this type of alert : recall the recent fears about the aim,” he told the Paris mid-December. A judgment largely nuanced since then, including in an interview with France Info radio on 13 January, where ino fabric no enough filters. “On the occasion of the penetration in Europe, some new variants of (…), the question arises as to the category of masks that one can offer in the general population”, said on BFMTV Didier Lepelletier, a leader of the HCSP Monday, January 18 in the evening. It is better to “wear a mask reusable fabric category 1 rather than masks category 2 filter a little less well, or even masks made in a traditional manner”, he added after the leak in the press of the elements of an opinion of the HCSP which the AFP reported. These recommendations, “developed […] at the request of the ministry of Health, which may follow or not”, have not yet been made public. Interviewed by the AFP, Franck Chauvin, president of the HCSP has indicated that he was not able to say when the notice will be available, only stating that it was “on the measures to be taken in the face of new variants”.
The minister of Health Olivier Véran, however, tried to make the point with an official word on Tuesday, January 19, on France Inter. “Almost all of the masks, industrial fabric remains valid against the Covid-19, on the contrary masks crafts that don’t filter enough”, he stated. “All the masks have the power filter is greater than 90%” remain valid a-t-he hammered out. It is well-masks large public level 1, the inverse of the masks artisan-made at home according to Afnor standards, published last spring. The latter were introduced at the end of march as an alternative to general public to medical masks (surgical or FFP2 that were missing so badly), there would be “not necessarily all the guarantees necessary for the High council of public health”.
The impact of the variant of the Covid on the adoption of masks recalls that after a long time of repeated, on a background of scarcity, that the masks were unnecessary for the general population, the government had a u-turn at the end of march. An official note, dated as of march 29, 2020, had been published to establish categories of industrial masks fabric : masks of category 1 (or UNS1, to “use non-sanitary 1”), filtering out 90% of the particles, and the masks of category 2 (UNS2), filtering 70% of the particles, according to standards developed by Afnor. The manufacturers have since been required to disclose that information on the packaging, but with the emergence of the variant of the Covid, this is a new doubt that installs now. Some industrial masks sold in the trade and not always clearly labeled would be category 2, as recently pointed out by the AFP.
The vaccine is less effective in the face of these mutations of the Covid ?
It is very likely that vaccines are already being used or about to be, to be effective, at least against the varying VOC-202012/01 (English) for the coronavirus. Vaccines RNA, including the Pfizer-BioNTech deployed in France since Sunday, December 27, would remain effective in this strain.
The Pfizer group , in connection with the medical unit of the University of Texas (UTMB), announced in a press release published on Friday, January 8, that its vaccine, developed with BioNTech, could already to “neutralize” the variants of british and south african Covid-19. The CEO of the laboratory BioNtech, which has developed the main vaccine with Pfizer, has also ensured as soon as the end of December that his group will be able to provide a new vaccine “in six weeks” in the event of a significant mutation of the Covid.
Two preliminary studies, published online on Wednesday, 20 January 2021, and have not yet been evaluated by other scientists, has also concluded that the vaccine with BioNTech/Pfizer seemed to be effective against the variant English. One of them, in a pre-published on the website BioRxiv, is the result of the preliminary work of a team of researchers from BioNTech/Pfizer. It has compared the effect of the plasma of 16 participants in clinical trials of varying English language and the original virus of Wuhan. They conclude that the neutralizing capacity “equivalent” to the two and felt it was “unlikely” that the variant English ‘escape to the” protection ” of their vaccine. If applicable, they point out also that the “flexibility” of the technology of this vaccine to messenger RNA would adapt the vaccine to a new strain of the virus.
“Our results suggest that the majority of vaccine responses should be effective against the variant B. 1.1.7”, has also written the same day, a team of international researchers from universities in the uk and the netherlands, as cited by AFP. To evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine, the researchers this time facing in the laboratory the variant of English in the plasma of 36 patients healed after suffering serious forms or the lightest on the Covid-19. “The majority of the samples has been able to “neutralize” the variant, even if the “power” of neutralization was reduced in 3 of the samples.
On 28 January, a new release of Pfizer and BioNTech said that their vaccine seemed to lose only a small part of their efficacy against the varying of south africa this time. A laboratory study was conducted together with the medical unit of the University of Texas (UTMB), has been subjected to the virus, three mutations detected in the variant from south africa. Once the vaccine has been tested in a slight decrease in the levels of antibodies” has been identified, but it is not enough to ensure that the vaccine is ineffective. Pfizer and BioNTech have stated that their study did not include all of the mutations identified with the
