The Covid-19 pandemic “is not over”, warned in its probable last opinion, published on Wednesday, the Scientific Council, which expects a gradual reduction in the impact of SARS-CoV-2 but with short-term spikes in virus circulation.
The Covid-19 pandemic “is not over”, warned in its probable last opinion, published on Wednesday, the Scientific Council, which expects a gradual reduction in the impact of SARS-CoV-2 but with short-term spikes in virus circulation. “We must expect the appearance of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the human population”, warns the Council, which, for nearly two and a half years, has guided the executive in its health decisions and must be replaced at the end of the month by a “committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks”. In this opinion entitled “Living with variants” and dated Tuesday, the Scientific Council underlines that the virus “now benefits from a human reservoir large enough for endemic circulation in the human population”.
For the Council, “this circulation could over the next few years remain at high levels” and “be accompanied by epidemic outbreaks associated with the emergence of new variants, more accentuated in the autumn-winter period”. If he cannot advance to predict which variant will be dominant, he hopes that the immunity of the population acquired thanks to vaccines and infections will allow “increasing protection against serious forms of Covid-19”. “This context suggests that the impact of SARS-CoV-2 will gradually decrease, but does not predict an absence of short-term virus circulation peaks,” he said. In the short term, the body is developing several scenarios.
“The Emergence of an X Variant”
In the first, it envisages a “succession of epidemic waves linked to the emergence of sub-variants of Omicron, with less hospital impact compared to that” of the first waves, a scenario that we are currently experiencing. A second scenario assumes a “seasonal resumption of the circulation of an existing variant or of a variant antigenically close to an existing variant”.
A final scenario anticipates “the emergence of an X variant with an immune escape capacity and sufficient contagiousness to be responsible for a new epidemic wave”. Since the arrival of Omicron, “a ‘living with the virus’ type strategy has been taking shape”, notes the Council. In this context, “control measures” (…) “such as the obligation to wear a mask in public transport, for example, can be reinstated when the health impact of viral circulation is deemed too significant” , he advocates. This opinion – “probably the last of the Scientific Council” – “is not intended to be a will or a feedback”, specifies the authority, but rather wants to be a “compass” on the current and future situation, with a series of recommendations.