On the RTL set, Anne-Claude Crémieux, infectious disease specialist, has no doubts about the impact of the British variant of the coronavirus in France. But she wants time to be our ally in preparing for this situation.
There is no doubt that the dreaded British variant of the coronavirus did not stop at the border with France. Cases have been detected in the region of Cholet (Maine-et-Loire), said Monday, January 11, 2021 the regional health agency (ARS) of Pays de la Loire, relayed by Le Monde. "A family residing in England came to spend a family holiday for the Christmas holidays in the Cholet region. Several family members have tested positive for Covid-19", ARS announced in a press release. And extensive analyzes have shown that "for three family members, the presence of the new English variant" was attested.
Play with the time limit
Asked by RTL this Tuesday, January 12, 2021, Anne-Claude Crémieux, professor of infectious diseases at Saint-Louis hospital in Paris and member of the Academy of Medicine, is very clear: "Today we have to face reason: what happens to England will happen to us". But one fact can work in our favor … Time. "(…) perhaps we have a little more time than them, and here we must use this time to organize ourselves, to vaccinate", she underlines at the microphone of RTL. The real question for the specialist being "what is the penetration rate of the virus on French territory?" From this answer will follow how to deal with this variant. "Either we are still with 1 to 2% of the virus varying in the territory, we have a little more time, that is counted in weeks. Or we are already at 10 to 20% and we must prepare to live the English situation in the coming days", details the infectious disease specialist.
A very contagious virus therefore more dangerous
The dangerousness of this "new" coronavirus is explained by its speed of spread. According to preliminary analyzes conducted by a team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, this variant was approximately 50% to 74% more contagious than the majority of SARS-CoV-2 circulating since the early hours of the pandemic. . This virus can therefore mutate and take various forms. This is important, because vaccines will have to evolve at the same time as these changes in the genome (all the genetic material) in order to protect us from them.