France detects two clusters of UK coronavirus variant, borders with UK to remain shut

France on January 8 detected at least two clusters of the mutated UK Covid variant, French Health Minister Olivier Véran announced. France’s border with the UK would remain shut "until further notice" as authorities investigate into the risk clusters of the mutant coronavirus and speed up the mass vaccination programme, he added. The government was aiming to vaccinate at least 1 million French people by the end of January, Véran told state broadcasters. Health experts sounded an alarm over the spread of virus variant, which the scientists found more contagious than the original SARS-CoV-2 strain.  

French Prime Minister Jean Castex told BFM TV that the French government was ramping up the efforts to expand and fast-track vaccinations. He also warned of a worsening of the Covid-19 crisis in the coming weeks due to the surge in UK variant cases. Castex told a news conference that the COVID-19 cluster had pushed the healthcare system to the point of exhaustion and it was out of the question to lower the guard.

The UK variant cluster was detected across Hauts-de-Seine, near Paris, and in Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany, according to sources of French broadcaster Connexion. The health authorities initiated rigorous contact tracing as 19 cases of COVID-19 infections of the UK variant were confirmed in France. The cases were detected from the genome sequencing of the 25,379 new infections in the last 24 hours, which surged from 20,489 recorded the previous day. 

Read: US: Arizona Braces For New Year Spike As Coronavirus Surges

Read: Ecuador Envoy Participates In Covaxin Trials, Praises India's Fight Against Coronavirus

French President tested positive

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron had tested positive for COVID-19. The 42-year-old leader took the PCR test after he reported symptoms. Macron had remained in isolation for nearly seven days and continued to work remotely as he was “still in charge” of running the nation despite the sickness to lead the response to the pandemic. Macron’s COVID-19 diagnosis came after a night curfew was imposed on France to contain the fast-spreading disease. Thus far, a total of 66,565 people have succumbed from the virus in France. 

Read: Macron 'doing Well' After Testing COVID Positive, Trump Wishes Him 'speedy Recovery'

Read: US: Biden To Speed Release Of Coronavirus Vaccines