The circulation of Covid-19 intensified last week as well as hospitalizations, in particular for the oldest who remain far too many not to have their second reminder, indicated Friday July 1st Public Health France. According to the latest bulletin from the health agency, the incidence rate increased by 53% the week of June 20 to 26, an acceleration compared to the previous week (+ 29%).
While the World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP it expected “high levels” of Covid-19 this summer in Europe, the number of contaminations rose in France to 125,066 cases detected in 24 hours. For comparison, it was just under 80,000 a week earlier.
“At the moment T, the situation is not critical”assured Friday on LCI the spokesperson of the government, Olivia Grégoire. “We are absolutely vigilant (…) The Prime Minister (Elisabeth Borne) saw yesterday [jeudi 30 juin] all the representatives of the political formations of the National Assembly but also of the Senate to explain what we are going to propose, since next week a bill will be discussed in Parliament to consolidate our epidemiological surveillance tools “she added.
Increase in hospitalizations, stagnation of vaccination coverage
The week of June 20 to 26, the increase in new hospitalizations continued (+ 19%) and there were 1,206 admissions over 24 hours on Friday, against 912 the previous Friday and 659 two weeks ago. 15,496 people were hospitalized with a Covid diagnosis, including 960 received in critical care units, which treat the most serious forms.
Hospitalization rates are particularly high among 80-89 year olds and 90+ year olds. The number of deaths in hospital and in medico-social establishments and services also increased after several weeks of decline (225, + 3%).
At the same time, vaccination coverage progressed very little over the period: thus, only 25.5% of those aged 60-79 and 31.3% of those aged 80 and over who were eligible had received their second booster dose. Health authorities have been campaigning for several days to encourage the most vulnerable to carry out this recall.
Vigilance
Since June 13, the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron has become the majority, representing 59% of the cases detected, replacing the BA.2 variant which only represented 21%. The current seventh wave of Covid can be explained in particular by the arrival of this sub-variant, which is even more contagious than the previous ones.