Delta variant accounts for 2-4% of Covid cases in France, health minister

The Delta variant, also known as the Indian variant, is thought to be 60% more contagious than the Alpha variant most commonly circulating in France. REUTERS - DADO RUVIC

The Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus first found in India, and which experts consider more infectious than other variants in circulation, currently accounts for 2-4% of confirmed Covid cases in France, health minister Olivier Veran said on Tuesday.

Veran said France was registering between 50 and 150 cases of the Delta variant per day, which highlighted the importance of sanitary protocol measures and vaccinations to keep the virus at bay.

"We are crushing the virus, but we must certainly not allow the Indian variant to get the upper hand and start a new wave of the pandemic," Veran told reporters at a Paris vaccination centre on Tuesday.

"You may say it's not much, but that was the situation in Britain a few weeks ago," he added.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed his plans to lift most remaining Covid-19 restrictions by a month, citing the dangers posed by the Delta variant, which is now the dominant strain in the UK.

France's health ministry is using a new sequencing method allowing it to better identify the Delta variant, said Nicolas Berrod, one of France's leading Covid data trackers.

Olivier Véran révèle les données du criblage avec la nouvelle méthode, qui devrait permettre d'identifier le variant Delta via sa mutation L452R.
2 à 4%, c'est beaucoup plus que ce qui était estimé via les enquêtes de séquençage Flash (0,5% dans celle du 25 mai).
1/ ⤵️ #Covid19 https://t.co/76FF7DUpgh

— Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) June 15, 2021

• France adopts 'more precise' strategy to track Covid-19 mutations

On 12 June four people tested positive for Delta in a university in the city of Strasbourg, near the German border, leading local authorities to launch an "immediate action plan" to stem the spread.

In late May the city of Bordeaux fast-tracked vaccinations for residents in one neighbourhood after some 46 people tested positive for a "very rare" variant, similar to Delta but with an additional mutation.

The number of coronavirus infections in France has steadily gone down over the last two months after the country eased its third, national lockdown in April.

France has recorded over 110,400 Covid-related deaths, the ninth-highest figure in the world.

(with newswires)