On February 18, Olivier Ferrand announced at a press conference that the isolation period in the event of a positive test for the new Corona virus will end from February 22 From seven to ten days. Decision that Minister of Health Justified by mentioning “specific studies” that would show that the different variants of Covid-19 Determined since the beginning of 2021 that will prolong the infection duration of the disease.
What is it about? Since the end of January, the first questions have surfaced about the duration of contagion of these various variants, which have been identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa or Brazil. In the magazine article National Geographic He noted that “some mutations (…) can make people contagious for a longer period.”
the first UK Public Health Study, In collaboration with the University of Birmingham, he argued that the viral load, the amount of virus in the body, was Stronger in people with the B.1.1.7 variantOne of the factors that could explain the increase in infection for this mutation, is usually referred to as the “British” variant, and the rapid increase in cases United kingdom.
But another study, It was unveiled on February 16th And the signature of researchers from various major American universities, turns into another explanation: the viral load will be “similar” whether it is the variant B.1.1.7 or other strains of Covid-19, but The injury duration will be longer.
The isolation period has already been modified
According to the researchers, it was the average duration of infection 13.3 days for the variant, versus 8.2 days for the other strains. This study has not been evaluated by other researchers, and as one of the authors, A. tweet, Only seven cases of the variant have been studied.
Initially from 14 days, the isolation period for people who tested positive was reduced to seven days in September. In the absence of an alternative, the Minister of Health explained that the infection, “after a week, it remains, but it is very low.”
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