As of this January 3, fully immunized people who test positive for Covid-19, in France, must be isolated for seven days and not ten, as was established. Meanwhile, six new studies in the UK agreed that the new Omicron variant would damage the lungs less than Delta and others, which would explain why, although it is more contagious, it is also less deadly.
France cuts isolation from 10 to 7 days for those infected with Covid-19 who have completed their vaccination schedule.
They may even end the quarantine after five days if they have negative results of an antigen test or PCR. The measure will take effect from this January 3, reported the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.
But those infected “who are not vaccinated will have to isolate themselves for 10 days, with the possibility of leaving confinement after seven days on the same terms,” explained Véran.
“The virus mutates, our fight against it adapts,” added the minister through his Twitter account.
Dès demain, de nouvelles règles d’isolement pour les cas positifs et les cas contacts s’appliqueront. Elles visent autant à lutter against the spread of the virus that protects notre vie quotidienne.
Le virus mute, notre combat against lui s’adapte.– Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) January 2, 2022
On the other hand, there will be no quarantine for those immunized who have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for the virus.
Instead, the quarantine is maintained for close, unvaccinated contacts, who must present a negative test to exit isolation.
With these changes, the French authorities follow other countries such as the United States, which this week also decreased the isolation period to avoid interruptions in industries due to lack of personnel.
France’s explanations to reduce quarantine
A statement from the Ministry of Health indicated that given the “extremely rapid evolution of the spread of the Omicron variant in France”, there should be (…) a benefit-risk balance aimed at ensuring that the virus is controlled while maintaining socioeconomic life ” .
Furthermore, “the first available virological data” showed that “the incubation period for Ómicron appears to be faster than previous variants, favoring a possible reduction in the duration of isolation,” he added.
However, the authorities have established other measures in recent days, such as the mandatory use of masks for children from 6 years old and not from 11 as established. Minors must use them in public establishments and in transport, according to the Official Gazette issued on Saturday, January 1.
That same day, the French health authorities reported 219,126 new cases in a 24-hour period, the fourth consecutive day that the country has registered more than 200,000 positive diagnoses.
France thus became the sixth country in the world over the weekend to report more than 10 million infections since the pandemic began about two years ago.
Six Preliminary Studies Find Omicron Variant Less Deadly
Six different studies conducted by scientists in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the United States published preliminary results in which they agree that, although Ómicron is a much more contagious variant, it would produce a less serious disease, unlike previous variants such as Delta or the original found in Wuhan, China.
According to the findings, Ómicron infects the throat, but would be less likely to damage the lungs. Scientists believe that this would explain why the new variant causes many more infections, but fewer deaths.
“In essence, it seems to be more capable of infecting the upper respiratory tract, that is, the cells of the throat. Therefore, it would multiply in cells more easily than in cells deep in the lung. This is really preliminary, but the studies point in the same direction ”, indicated the professor of virology at University College London, Deenan Pillay, quoted by the British newspaper The Guardian.
Pillay explained that if the virus primarily affects the throat, it spreads faster, while a virus that affects lung tissue is potentially more dangerous, but less transmissible.
Scientists from the Molecular Virology Research Group at the University of Liverpool noted in a preliminary study that the new South African variant leads to “less severe disease”, according to tests in mice.
“It is a piece of the puzzle. The animal model suggests that the disease is less severe than Delta and the original Wuhan virus. It seems to overcome faster and the animals recovered more quickly, and that is related to the clinical data that comes in”; said researcher James Stewart.
Also, a research team from the University of Cambridge took blood samples from vaccinated patients and found that Ómicron can evade biologics, but with less ability to enter lung cells.
Similar data coincided with studies carried out by the Neyts laboratory of the University of Leuven in Belgium and another inquiry by experts in the United States sent to the journal Nature last week, among others, collected by the British press that warns that the results have not yet been been reviewed by more scientists in the world.
“The first signs indicate that it is good news, but that is not a signal to lower our guard, because if you are clinically vulnerable you could still have great consequences: there are deaths from Omicron. Not everyone can take off their masks and have fun, “Steward stressed.
Four of these six studies were published on Christmas Eve and followed an inquiry by the University of Hong Kong that last November also showed less omicron damage to the lungs.
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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