2023-12-16 13:01:42
THE pandemic indicators soar, with a noted increase in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks. Among the variants under surveillance, JN.1, derived from BA.2.86, is particularly attracting the attention of health authorities.
Antoine Flahault, epidemiologist at the University of Geneva, stressed that JN.1 presents a new genomics with the particularity of evading immune protection once morest infection, without necessarily affecting the severity of the forms of the disease. In France, around 30% of Covid cases recorded in the laboratory at the beginning of December were attributable to JN.1, according to available data.
Flahault warned that the JN.1 variant is “much much more transmissible than the flu virus”. This observation underlines the urgency of vaccination, both once morest Covid-19 and the fluin order to contain the spread of the virus.
Factors influencing the current rise in cases include the winter period, characterized by lower temperatures and an increase in indoor interactions, thus promoting viral transmission. Xavier Lescure, member of Covars (health risk monitoring and anticipation committee), emphasizes that declining population immunity also contributes to this periodic resurgence.
Faced with this situation, Antoine Flahault and the Minister of Health are calling on the French to be vaccinated once morest Covid-19 and the flu. The minister, Aurélien Rousseau, insists on the importance of prevention to guarantee peaceful end-of-year celebrations and prevent hospital overload this winter.
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