We thought it was behind us. However, for the past few days, the Covid-19 has been talking about him again. In its national information bulletin Oscour of August 2, Public Health France reports, for the week of July 24 to 30, a 26% increase in the number of visits to the emergency room for symptoms suggestive of Covid-19, i.e. 149 additional passages compared to the previous week.
Among those infected, 35% are affected by the new Eris variant, according to Gisaid, an international reference database for monitoring Covid-19. A figure which remains to be qualified, however, given that not all infected people are tested. What does this new majority variant consist of? What are the associated symptoms? Is it more transmissible and dangerous than the previous ones? 20 minutes make the point.
A more transmissible virus
This sub-variant of Omicron in the name of a Greek deity has been dubbed EG.5.1 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and was originally spotted in India. “However, it is difficult to say that this variant is of Indian origin because this country has more than a billion inhabitants and is better equipped with sequencing tools than several of its neighbors”, explains Antoine Flahault, epidemiologist, Professor and Director of the Institute of Global Health at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva.
Fever, rhinitis, sore throat, headache, dry cough or even severe fatigue: the symptoms associated with Eris are not new. On the other hand, it is more transmissible than the previous variants. A logic explained by the epidemiologist: “The selection of new variants which tend to become dominant is based on their greater transmissibility compared to the previous ones. EG.5.1 prevails because it is more transmissible than XBB. »
No particular severity
As with any new variant early in its emergence, the virulence of Eris is not yet fully known. “That said, where it is already widespread, in India, South-East Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom, there are no reports of any particular severity, specifies the professor. Nothing is known, however, of its potential to cause long Covids. »
So should we be worried about the arrival of this new variant? An increase in cases is more than likely, according to Antoine Flahault. “It is expected that new variants, more transmissible than the previous ones, will impose themselves in turn. They then lead to an increase in cases, new hospitalizations in immunocompromised and elderly people and probably an increase in long Covid,” analyzes the epidemiologist.
Soon a new wave?
The French being less immunized due to their vaccination or last contamination which is starting to rise, the increase in cases is all the more likely. A situation that is not going to improve this fall. “The cold season promotes the circulation of these respiratory viruses because their transmission takes place in closed, crowded and poorly ventilated environments where we find ourselves more frequently during the cold seasons”, underlines the epidemiologist.
An increase to put into perspective because the epidemiological data are less precise than before. Since May 5, 2023, Covid-19 is no longer considered by the WHO as a global health emergency and the French Ministry of Health no longer records, since July 1, 2023, antigenic results on its SI-DEP portal. .