It is believed the B.1.640.2 Covid variant may have originated in Africa after experts found the first identified case had recently returned from travelling to Cameroon
Just 12 cases of the B.1.640.2 variant have been recorded in France (
Image: REUTERS)
A new Covid variant detected in France is nothing to fear according to virologists – strengthening hopes it may fade into the background.
Twelve people near Marseille have tested positive for the B.1.640.2 variant, which is believed to have originated in Africa.
Experts found the first identified case had recently returned from travelling to Cameroon.
While virologists say the strain predates the highly transmissible Omicron variant, it has not caused nearly as much damage. Just 12 cases have been recorded, though data suggests the true figure may be closer to 20.
For comparison, more than 120,000 cases of Omicron have been detected since officials first raised the alarm.
Omicron now accounts for 60 per cent of all infections in France.
Medical staff members work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for Covid patients at La Timone hospital in Marseille
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Image:
REUTERS)
According to Imperial Department of Infectious Disease virologist Tom Peacock, the variant has had “a decent chance to cause trouble but never really materialised”.
So it is definitely ‘not one worth worrying about too much’ at the moment, he said.
Mr Peacock also pointed out there hadn’t been any new sequences uploaded since before Christmas.
The strain was first recorded on variant-tracking database GISAID on November 4, more than two weeks before Omicron was sequenced.
No cases of the variant have been formally recorded in other countries, nor has the strain been labelled as being “under investigation” by the World Health Organisation.
WHO Infectious Disease Epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove tweeted about the variant on Monday, noting that the strain had been recorded as a “Variant Under Monitoring” by the WHO in November.
The classification meant it had been defined as a variant with “genetic changes that are suspected to affect virus characteristics with some indication that it could pose a future risk, but evidence of phenotypic or epidemiological impact is currently unclear”.
According to University College London geneticist Professor Francis Balloux, the variant is not linked with a spike in cases or hospitalisations in France.
The professor urged people to “relax” with the strain at this stage not presenting a major threat.
According to Our World in Data, the country recorded an average of 2,477 cases per million people each day over the past week.
The UK, in comparison, recorded 2,548 each day.
Yesterday, 175 people per million were hospitalised with the virus, compared to 146 per million in the UK on December 27.
The emergence of the variant was first announced in a pre-print posted on medRxiv by experts based at the IHU Mediterranee Infection. Their work regarding the strain has not yet been published in an academic journal.
To date, no cases of the variant have been recorded outside of France
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Professor Philippe Colson, one of the authors, said: ‘We indeed have several cases of this new variant in the Marseille geographical area.’
According to scientists, the lineage of the strain, which is believed to have 46 mutations , is genetically different to B.1.640, which is thought to have emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo in September.
It carries the E484K mutation, which is thought to make it more resistant to vaccines.
And it also has the N501Y mutation — first seen on the Alpha variant — that some experts believe can make it more transmissible.
There are scores of new variants discovered all the time, but it does not necessarily mean they will be more dangerous than Delta or Alpha.
What makes a variant more well-known and dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus.
As of December last year, some 17 different variants had been registered across the country, with some having little impact, while others – including Omicron – have been cause for concern, according to experts.
Variants are being investigated and tracked as people test positive for them and figures are published on the government’s website which show the amount of new cases of the variants since the last update, and the total so far.
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