France Confirms First Case of New Coronavirus Variant
This time, the new strain of the novel Coronavirus has been detected in a man, who returned from London, in France. The French health ministry has confirmed late on Friday.
The infected person returned from London on December 19. Then on December 21, he tested positive. No symptoms were seen in that person. He is currently in the self-isolation at home, BBC reports.
The country’s Health Ministry also said that the person who was diagnosed with the new variant of Coronavirus is in good condition. No further information was provided.
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The new strain of Coronavirus has been detected in several countries before France. Meanwhile, it was found in five people in Japan on Friday. They all returned from the UK. This new virus has also been detected in Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands.
The UK is already trying to prevent the new type of infection. This new variant of Coronavirus is capable of becoming up to 70 percent more contagious than the traditional virus. The research is still on.
In mid-September, the first new Coronavirus variant was found in London and Kent. The new virus is more common in London since December. On December 9, 62 per cent of the people got infected in London, according to news agency Xinhua. It is 59 per cent in the east of England and 43 per cent in South-East of England. Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser to the British Government, spoke at the prime minister’s press conference.
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Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) called a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the new form of the virus that is spreading in the UK.
The WHO has been issuing its highest alert.Also, the organization is hailing Britain for detecting the new strain of the virus.
Due to the spread of the variant, several countries have already imposed travel restrictions on the UK.
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Meanwhile, the French government lifted the ban on Wednesday, even though it announced the closure of its borders and imposed restrictions on the showing of negative certificates for travel. The government has also said that the rate of infection has not decreased significantly since the lockdown was lifted in France last week.
According to Worldometers, one of the leading statistics of the world, over 25,47,000 people have been diagnosed with the Coronavirus in France so far. Of them, more than 62,400 people have died.
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