An “immediate action plan” is being put in place on Saturday in the Occitanie region of southwestern France after two French patients who caught the Delta variant of Covid-19 died, according to the Regional Health Agency (ARS), reports RFI.
The first two cases were in Gers, but Landes, a department that borders Gers, "is experiencing a significant increase in the number of people infected by this variant."
"The virus does not stop at departmental borders," the public health body Occitanie ARS told AFP newswire.
The two patients who had contracted the Delta variant were aged 42 and 60, and whose health status was marked by a number of risk factors. Both were not vaccinated. They were among the nine possible Delta variant cases in the region that were identified on Friday.
“Several other suspected cases are currently under medical investigation and contact-tracing,” according to ARS.