Bacalan district in Bordeaux – M.Bosredon / 20Minutes
- A rare variant was detected in a cluster in the Bacalan district in Bordeaux.
- There is no serious form in the affected patients but the variant is suspected to be more contagious.
- Massive screening and an advanced vaccination center are planned to curb its spread.
While the first phase of deconfinement has been initiated, a little-known variant of Covid-19, already identified in isolated cases around the world, would for the first time be at the origin of a cluster, identified this Thursday in the neighborhood de Bacalan, in Bordeaux. This Friday more than 46 cases were identified against thirty Thursday.
No particularities on the symptoms expressed were noted and there is no serious form and no hospitalization. There would be no vaccine resistance a priori, none of the vaccinated people is among the positive cases. They are mostly rather young subjects. They are isolated at home and follow the usual precautionary measures. A follow-up PCR test is added before release from their isolation.
An “intra-family departure”
“When screening patients, it was found that there was an abnormality and suspected that it was not a usual English variant, but having a particular mutation, this was confirmed on sequencing”, explains Professor Patrick Dehail, medical adviser to the director general of the Nouvelle Aquitaine regional agency. Variants can emerge spontaneously “this is the natural history of the virus,” he points out. There is therefore not necessarily a link with the previous isolated cases of this variant. The transmission chains are still being studied but the track of an “intrafamilial departure” is privileged, at this stage. The variant would then have spread in the neighborhood school, closed on Thursday.
More contagious
A plan to curb the spread of this variant has been put in place. “We suspect greater contagiousness, points out Patrick Dehail. To try to cut short this possibly increased transmissibility, we decided to go rather hard on the screening with the town hall, the metropolis and the Bordeaux University Hospital which analyzes the results. Within 24 hours, an advanced screening center was deployed in the neighborhood. The inhabitants are warned by the town hall and “the population plays the game very well”, estimates the professor.
A vaccination center will also be opened on Monday to speed up the administration of doses in this sector. “We are finalizing the organization with the ministries, we will try to vaccinate the population over 18 years of Bacalan a little faster at first and extend it to neighboring districts afterwards,” he explains. We want to create a buffer zone, by vaccinating people who will be tested and if they are negative, they will be vaccinated more quickly ”. He reminds us that from the first dose, we are already partially protected.