PARIS (Reuters) – The British variant of the COVID-19 virus now accounts for a quarter of all new infections in France, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday.
He also said the results of a study of 17,000 positive COVID-19 tests nationwide showed the South African and Brazilian variants now account for 4% to 5% of all new cases.
“The spread of these two variants on French territory is not unavoidable,” he said at a news conference.
He also said that in coming weeks the government would see whether it needs to take more restrictive measures to rein in the coronavirus.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Chris Reese)
