The seventh wave of the Covid-19 epidemic is easing across mainland France, but hospitalizations remain at a high level and deaths continue to rise, Public Health France noted on Friday.
After six consecutive weeks of increase, “the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 decreased throughout the territory” the week of July 11 to 17, “but still at a very high level”, with around 90,000 new cases daily, according to your weekly. to update.
In hospitals, the decline is also evident, but new admissions (more than 7,900) and new intensive care admissions (around 740) have remained at high levels, especially for those over 70 years of age.
On the death side, they continued to rise at the hospital, with 590 last week. In the last five months, 25,000 people have died from covid, but these deaths “have passed into a kind of oblivion,” Jean-François Delfraissy said Thursday during the final press conference of the Scientific Council.
A “tension” in the hospital with vacation trips?
If he judged that “we are quite calm now” about the continuation of the current wave, he warned that “population movements linked to vacations” could cause “quite strong tension” in the hospital in the tourist areas where the staff works. it is “not fully adapted”.
The current wave is carried by the Omicron sub-variants, in particular BA.5, which is now the majority. Three cases of a new member of the Omicron family, BA.2.75 -nicknamed “Centauro”- have been detected, followed closely, in France (in Martinique, in Occitanie, in the Great East).
Stressing that vaccination coverage “remains insufficient”, especially among the elderly, Public Health France called for it to be increased. Only 39.5% of people age 80 and older and 45.4% of eligible nursing home residents had received their second booster dose before July 18.
The vaccine is still “effective in reducing severe forms”
“Many of our elderly in conventional hospitalization are still in difficult situations, often decompensating their pathologies due to Covid (…); it’s a shame when the vaccine is effective in reducing severe forms,” added the geriatrician and member of the scientific council Olivier Guérin.
In a summer season conducive to an increase in the transmission of the virus, the health agency also recalled the need for isolation in case of contagion and respect for barrier gestures.
In very hot weather, indoor ventilation should be limited to the coolest hours of the day, he recommended.
Source: BFM TV
