The first case of a British coronavirus strain was detected in France a few hours after the start of the vaccination campaign in the country, where the first doses of Pfeizer arrived on Saturday.
A patient from Tours, a Frenchman living in the United Kingdom, was tested positive and tests showed that it contains the new strain, which the British authorities consider more contagious, but not more serious for health.
The man had arrived in France by train crossing the English Channel last Saturday, the same day that the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced a new closure of the population.
Two days later, he was admitted to the hospital in Tours, in the center of the country, where he underwent a positive test.
As a consequence of their origin, the samples were sent to the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), where the strain was sequenced and it was established that it is the new British variant.
The patient is currently isolated at home and is asymptomatic.
The French health authorities have begun to monitor all the contacts they have had in search of new cases, as indicated in the protocol.
They added that there are other positive cases that are being analyzed to determine if it is also the British strain.
Like other European countries, France closed its borders with the United Kingdom at midnight last Sunday for 48 hours, after London reported the appearance of this variant of Covid-19.
Border lock
The blockade of the border, the largest that the United Kingdom has with the continent, has caused significant queues for trucks and passengers, which continue on both sides of the English Channel, despite the fact that Paris announced the reopening of the same Wednesday.
Especially from the British, because France requires a negative coronavirus test from everyone who wants to enter the country from the UK, which has caused a blockage of the process that causes many delays.
The one in France is not the first positive for the British strain detected in continental Europe, where there have already been cases in Italy, Germany, Gibraltar and, more recently, in Madrid.
His revelation comes on the eve of the European vaccination campaign.
France, which has more than 2.5 million infections and 62,000 deaths, received the first 19,500 doses of Pfeizer vaccine from the Belgian pharmacy on Saturday.
Accompanied by the Gendarmerie, a refrigerated truck transported the doses to a logistics center of the hospital located on the outskirts of Paris.
French health authorities have predicted that the campaign will symbolically begin this Sunday in two centers for the elderly.
The first patients will be elderly residents in a center in Sevran, in the Paris region, and in another in Champmaillot, in Burgundy, in the center of the country.
Vaccination campaign
Starting in the following days, the vaccine will be distributed regularly, depending on the doses available in the 7,000 centers for the elderly in the country.
Its inhabitants are the first to receive the remedy, along with at-risk staff, based on the strategy set by the French government, which expects this first phase of vaccination, which affects 1 million patients, to last until February. Next →.
Later, the vaccine will be opened to other population groups in a campaign that will not end until spring.
France has launched a digital platform to record possible side effects that vaccinated patients feel.
The Covid-19 vaccine will be free in France, but will not be mandatory in a country where recent studies indicate that more than half of citizens are reluctant to receive it.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who just spent a week in solitary confinement after giving positive results on the 17th, a few days ago encouraged all citizens to wear it when it is their turn and he himself said he is willing to do it. .
Macron is spending a few days off at the presidential holiday residence Fort de Brégançon in the south of the country with his wife after overcoming his illness, Elysee said.