2023-09-03 11:16:00
Vhave we seen the reappearance of the Covid-19? The signals are not red, but the start of the school year, synonymous with mixing, and the arrival of a new variant, the characteristics of which are still unknown, might change the situation. We had almost forgotten regarding the virus. Since mid-July, however, all of Western Europe has experienced an upsurge in cases. In France, the Bayonne Festival, which was very busy at the end of July, notably caused an increase in contamination.
In its latest update on Friday, the French public health agency noted at the end of August a continued rise in indicators in most regions, which nevertheless remain at “low” levels. These indicators remain “a little blurred due to the low number of tests and sequencing carried out everywhere”, underlines to Agence France-Presse Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of global health, in Geneva.
READ ALSOCovid-19: should we be worried regarding the new Eris variant?
“It is estimated that today we do less than 1% of the sequencing activity of two years ago in the world,” he adds. In France, the surveillance system for the virus has been considerably lightened and is currently close to that of the flu.
In this context, it is difficult to closely follow the circulation of the virus, even if the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, assured France Info on Friday that our “surveillance system is still in place and vigilant to protect us once morest any resurgence of the virus. ‘epidemic whatsoever’.
The arrival of the Pirola variant
One certainty: the return to school on Monday promises to be a good time for the spread of the virus in schools, offices, public transport. “The start of the new school year is the bed of autumn-winter epidemics of RSV (the bronchiolitis virus), influenza and now Covid every year”, reminds AFP Mircea Sofonea, epidemiologist at the University of Montpellier.
The Omicron sub-variants of the XBB lineage, in particular the EG.5.1 variant (nicknamed Eris), currently dominate in France. This last variant is more transmissible than its more recent predecessors, but nothing says that it is more virulent.
READ ALSOCovid-19: what we know regarding the next vaccine campaignA new sub-variant of Omicron, BA.2.86, also appeared in mid-August with a few cases identified in several countries, including France, with a sequence detected on Thursday. The World Health Organization has decided to classify this new variant, nicknamed Pirola, in the category of variants under surveillance because of the very large number (more than 30) of mutations of the Spike gene that it carries.
“For the moment, there is no particular signal of concern in the cases reported, but they are still too small in number to assess their characteristics”, underlines Antoine Flahault.
” Be careful “
As a precaution, the United Kingdom announced at the end of August that it was advancing its vaccination campaign once morest Covid to September 11. “The sooner we start the vaccination the better because it will give more time to deliver the vaccine,” Keith Neal, professor of epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, told the Science Media Center.
In France, the new vaccination campaign once morest Covid, coupled like last year with that of the flu, is due to start on October 17. This vaccination will be “essential to protect people at risk from serious forms”, insisted Public Health France on Friday.
But will the vaccines be effective? “Against the variants of the XBB line, including the sub-variant EG.5.1 (Eris), the formulation of the vaccine booster expected for the fall should be, since it targets these variants precisely”, assures Antoine Flahault.
“On the other hand, if during the fall and winter, the BA.2.86 variant were to qualify and in turn become dominant, we do not yet know what its degree of immune escape from these vaccine boosters would be. “, he adds.
Still, the immune status of the world’s population is very different from what it was when Omicron emerged, with a large proportion of people vaccinated or having been infected by different successive variants allowing them to maintain some protection, notes the French health agency.
“There is no question of approaching the start of the school year with a ball in your stomach in the face of the Covid”, also reassures Mircea Sofonea. But “being careful, respecting barrier gestures and isolating yourself if you are symptomatic” remain rigorous imperatives.
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