While it should represent 90% of new cases of Covid in the EU by the end of August, the Delta variant currently represents in France “between 9 and 10%” of new positive cases, Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday. “It is a proportion a priori comparable to what we observe in the United States, and probably in Germany”, declared the spokesman of the government at the end of the Council of Ministers.
This is nevertheless a strong increase compared to last week. Last Tuesday, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran had mentioned a range of 2% to 4% of cases due to the Delta variant, from the screening data of the positive tests. According to the last sequencing survey to date, a more precise but less reactive method, this variant identified for the first time in India in April represented only 1% of samples on May 25, against 0.2% on May 11.
“70% of positive cases detected” in the Landes
“Territorial disparities exist”, detailed Wednesday Gabriel Attal, specifying that “the Delta variant represents[ait] 12% to 13% of contaminations in Ile-de-France “,” 70% of positive cases detected “in the Landes,” the only department where we are observing an increase in the epidemic “and that it was also responsible for” several clusters ”in Bas-Rhin.
This variant, more contagious than the previous strains, has spread in particular in the United Kingdom, where it replaced in a few weeks the Alpha variant, which appeared at the end of 2020 in the south-east of England. Some preliminary data shows that it could also lead to more severe forms of the disease and less effectiveness of available vaccines.