The BA.2.86 variant was spotted for the first time in France this Thursday, August 31, Public Health France announcement confirming the information from the Parisian. This new Covid-19 mutation is being carefully monitored by the World Health Organization. more important and to spread more easily”, recalled last week the president of the Committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks (Covars) Brigitte Autran.
This case of the variant was detected in the Grand Est, said Public Health France, stressing that it had “launched an investigation to collect epidemiological information to document this first case”. This variant had been detected so far in several countries, including the United States, Denmark or Israel, but not yet in France.
The WHO has decided to classify this new variant, dubbed “Pirola” on social media, as a variant under surveillance due to the very large number (over 30) of Spike gene mutations it carries. is the Spike protein that gives the virus its spiky appearance and is what allows SARS-CoV-2 to enter host cells.
Even if BA.2.86 caused a major spike in infections, “we do not expect to see comparable levels of severe illness and death to what we observed earlier in the pandemic when the Alpha, Delta, or Omicron have spread,” recently commented François Balloux, who heads the chair of bioinformatics at University College London.
