Sars-CoV-2 variants continue to circulate in many countries. And France is not left out: it is also affected by the English, South African and Brazilian changes in the coronavirus. However, the presence of variants differs according to the territories. Public Health France unveiled the percentage of variants department by department between March 1 and 7. These data, obtained by screening positive PCR tests for Covid-19, are available on the platform Geodes.
English variant: which departments are most affected?
First observation: the English variant now represents 65.8% of contaminations in France. A phenomenon that worries, not only because it is more contagious than the classic strain of the virus, but also because it would be 64% more deadly, as a news suggests. study conducted by researchers from the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). In France, this mutation is in the majority in 82 departments. The three territories most affected by this change are:
- dawn (83, 8 %)
- the Alpes-Maritimes (81,3 %)
- Southern Corsica (81, 2 %)
The English variant is also particularly present in Cantal (80.4%), Morbihan (80%), Var (79.7%), Eure (79.1%), the territory of Belfort (76, 6%), Gironde (75.8%), Ille-et-Vilaine (75.7%) and Haute Corse (75.7%).
Covid-19: where do the South African and Brazilian variants circulate the most?
The South African and Brazilian variants represent 4.9% of contamination in France. The most affected departments are located in the Grand-Est region, since they are:
- Moselle (45,1 %)
- the Meurthe-et-Moselle (20,4 %)
- the Vosges (23,5 %)
- the Meuse (16,2 %)
Asked last February by L’Obs on the significant circulation of the South African variant in Moselle, Virginie Cayré, director general of the regional health agency (ARS) of the Grand Est, could not explain this phenomenon: “We have no answer at this stage. Despite the application of barrier gestures in the Grand Est, we observe a rapid advance of this variant. The northern half of the department is particularly affected: Metz, the north and east of the city, without anyone being able to explain why. Extensive ‘contact tracing’ work failed to identify the origin of the variant. We do not know, for example, if it appeared first in someone returning from abroad. The distribution is now community “, she indicated.
The Grand-Est is not the only region affected by the South African and Brazilian variants. To a lesser extent, these Sars-CoV-2 mutations also circulate in other departments such as Dordogne (16.4%), Yonne (11.8%), Manche (11.4%) and Loire-Atlantique (10.4%).
Read also :
⋙ Covid-19: faced with variants, which vaccines should we bet on?
⋙ South African variant: it could immunize against other variants of the coronavirus
⋙ Vaccine against Covid-19: a third dose to fight against variants?
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