Here is an intriguing story which has scarcely been reported in France but is already being distorted by conspiracy theorists and joyfully reported in Chinese media, both official and unofficial.
France has its own “variety” of Covid-19.
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France has its own “variety” of Covid-19.
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The strain of SARS-CoV-2 which has caused over 24,000 deaths in France was NOT the strain which arrived from China OR Italy, according to a study by the Institut Pasteur. It was a strain, or “clade” in scientific language, which was circulating in Fr in February or before. 2/10
This does NOT mean, if you read the study properly, that Covid-19 "originated" in France. It means that a strain or mutation, not yet found elsewhere, had arrived in France much earlier. It was circulating, mostly in the north of country, but not producing obvious symptoms. 3/10
French govt efforts to isolate known cases arriving from China and Italy were very successful, the study finds. The “clade” of SARS-Cov-2 identified in those countries, DID NOT spread in Fr. The other strain – arrival date unknown - spread rapidly from March onwards. 4/10
Politically, this is “good news” for the French government - in a way. Accusations by Marine Le Pen and others that they didn’t act quickly enough to close Fr borders are now meaningless. The disease was already, silently and invisibly, in the country. 5/10
The study’s findings square with other reports suggesting that strains of Covid-19 were circulating in Europe before identified cases arrived from China. Why this “early” form of the disease was asymptomatic or produced only minor symptoms is unclear. 6/10
The study, reported by Les Echos but not much yet in other French media was conducted under the supervision of Professor Sylvie van der Werf, head of the institute’s respiratory virus centre. It can be read in English on the Biorxiv site here: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
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In broad terms, the Institut Pasteur team sequenced the genome of the virus widespread in France and discovered that it was different from strains/mutations/clades reported elsewhere (except for a few Algerian cases though to have originated in France.) 8/10
“Our genomic data reveals the later predominant circulation of a major clade in many French regions and implies local circulation of the virus in undocumented infections prior to the wave of COVID-19 cases.” 9/10
What does it all mean? The study doesn’t speculate but it is likely that strains of Covid-19 left China many weeks – how many unknown – before the pandemic was officially tracked to Europe. Conspiracy theorists will doubtless concoct other explanations. 10/10
