The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 lineage (VOC β) is outgrowing the B.1.1.7 lineage (VOC α) in some French regions in April 2021
Bénédicte Roquebert, Sabine Trombert‐Paolantoni, Stéphanie Haïm‐Boukobza, Emmanuel Lecorché, Laura Verdurme, Vincent Foulongne, Mircea T. Sofonea, Samuel Alizon
Abstract
To assess SARS-CoV-2 variants spread, we analysed 36,590 variant-specific reverse-transcription-PCR tests performed on samples from 12 April-7 May 2021 in France. In this period, contrarily to January-March 2021, variants of concern (VOC) β (B.1.351 lineage) and/or γ (P.1 lineage) had a significant transmission advantage over VOC α (B.1.1.7 lineage) in Île-de-France (15.8%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 15.5-16.2) and Hauts-de-France (17.3%; 95% CI: 15.9-18.7) regions. This is consistent with VOC β's immune evasion abilities and high proportions of prior-SARS-CoV-2-infected persons in these regions.