France discovers a mutated new coronavirus that can evade nucleic acid testing

The French General Administration of Health announced on the 16th that a new variant of the new crown virus has been discovered in the hospital in Laniyong, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France.

According to French media reports, a cluster of infections was discovered inside a company in Brittany on February 22.

Although these 8 patients had typical symptoms of infection, their nasopharyngeal sample nucleic acid test (PCR test) results were negative.

Based on preliminary data, French health authorities have not yet been able to determine whether the new variant is more contagious and whether it will cause more serious infections.

Why can't nucleic acid testing detect new strains? French epidemiologist Pascal Crepe said in an interview with Le Figaro that this may come from two situations: one is that the virus is not detected in the upper respiratory tract, It may be that the virus infection has rapidly migrated to the lungs, which also means that it is less contagious; another situation is disturbing.

Philip Froger, a geneticist and endocrinologist at the Medical Center in Lille, France, called for caution against the mutated new coronavirus discovered in Brittany.