France detects 1st case of South African virus variant

PARIS, France

The French Health Ministry on Thursday confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus variant found in South Africa.

The new strain was identified in a French national returning from a recent stay in South Africa. He is currently isolated and recuperating well.

The man living in the Haut-Rhin department close to the Switzerland border, upon his return, had taken the RT-PCR test following symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, the ministry said in a statement. The test undertaken in Switzerland was positive and was reported by the Swiss health authorities to their counterparts in France.

Both, the National Reference Center for Emerging Viral Infections (CRIVE Switzerland) and the National Reference Center for Respiratory Infections Viruses (CNR France) confirmed the sequencing of the test sample with the 501 V2 variant.

His contact tracing has found no people at risk.

On Dec. 25, France had detected the new variant of COVID-19 circulating in the UK, in a man from Tours city returning from London.

Reports of new cases had prompted authorities to set up a system for detecting and monitoring cases of infection or variant from passengers returning from the UK and South Africa, in order to spread their limit in France.

The Health Ministry has made it mandatory to present a negative test conducted less than 72 hours prior for anyone returning to France from the UK and South Africa.