For several weeks, the number of hospital visits for suspected cases of Covid-19 has been on the rise. A finding relayed by the medical profession, always on the front line, but also by Public Health France. The public health reference institution reports, in his latest newsletter dated August 1,a 26% increase – which corresponds to 149 more passages – of Covid-19 cases suspected among patients, in all age groups and especially adults, for the week of July 24 to 30.
Behind this summer outbreak of Covid-19 is a variant hitherto unknown to the general public : baptized “Eris”, it would be a sub-variant of Omicron according to the Italian higher institute of health. It comes from the EG 5 strain of the infectious disease, the majority in metropolitan France. This, moreover, was detected in 35% of analyzesindicates the GISAID database, dedicated to monitoring Covid-19 and recommended by the Institut Pasteur.
A strain also present in England, where it would be responsible for 15% of cases according to the British health security agency, also cited by our colleagues from La Dépêche.fr. The same is true in the United States, where 17% of identified contaminations on August 5 are believed to be due to EG 5. As a result, the Eris variant has been placed under surveillance by the World Health Organization (WHO).