Covid: Latest stats in France as Olympic winner tests positive
Noah Lyles had been aiming to take four gold medals in Paris but Covid scuppered his ambitions
US sprinter Noah Lyles had been aiming for gold across the board in Paris but was wheelchair evacuated after winning bronze. He is suffering from Covid
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An American athlete, who was later revealed to be suffering from Covid, was taken out of the Olympics arena in a wheelchair yesterday (August 8) after winning bronze in the 200m sprint event.
Noah Lyles, 27, representing the USA, had already won gold in the 100m event on Sunday 4.
However, he lay on the ground after the 200m event for a long period, and was later taken out of the arena by medics in a wheelchair. He was then seen wearing a medical mask.
It has since emerged that the athlete had tested positive for Covid on Tuesday August 6.
“I was quickly quarantined near the Olympic Village and tried to take authorised medication," he said (some medication is banned for athletes when they are competing). "I wanted to race. I was told it was possible, so I just stayed away from the others and took lap after lap.
“Of the last three days, today was by far the best. I can't say I'm 100%, but more like 90 or 95%,” he said.
The sprinter had been aiming to take four gold medals, in the 100, 200, 4x100 and 4x400m events, having appeared to start well with a gold in the 100 metres, beating Jamaican Kishane Thompson by just five thousandths of a second.
Covid rates dropping in France
In its most recent Covid-19 update (August 7), Santé publique France (SPF) said that Covid cases were dropping among the general public (down 0.6%), and remaining stable in hospitals (down 0.1%).
Analysis of waste water found that there was a 14% drop in SARS-CoV-2 infections week-on-week, SPF said.
Hospital admissions for Covid (among people who had visited A&E) were “moderate” in comparison to previous waves, it adds.
The health authority continued to advise people that “barrier measures” remain the “most effective way to protect against respiratory infection…particularly during this summer's large gatherings”.
This includes wearing a mask when symptomatic, washing hands regularly, and keeping your distance from vulnerable people.
New subvariants
The latest update comes as a new subvariant, LB1, from the variant JN.1, has been detected in France this August.
JN.1 (Juno) is itself a subvariant of BA.2.86 (named Pirola), itself a variant of Omicron. JN.1 was first identified in August 2023, and has been dominant in France (and largely worldwide) since November.
Recently, the variant was found to have mutated, giving rise to several new variants: KP.2 (which stabilised at around 20% of tested cases in June); KP.3, which is increasing slightly (accounting for around 38% of contaminations in June); and, more recently, LB1.
This latter variant has been stable over recent weeks, SPF said, and is currently being detected in fewer than 10% of sequences tested.
These variants do not appear to be causing more severe infections in comparison to previous strains, SPF said. Although they appear to be able to ‘get past’ immunity conveyed by vaccination more easily than previous strains, they seem to be less contagious overall.
Of people infected with a JN.1 variant, 97% are symptomatic. SPF has warned that the most frequent symptoms are:
The NHS in the UK has also shared that many patients have reported diarrhoea as another symptom, appearing more often than in previous variants.
