PARIS (Reuters) – France on Thursday reported 206,243 new cases of coronavirus contamination in 24 hours, a number close to the record set the day before, as the Omicron variant, considered highly contagious, continues to spread rapidly and is now majority in mainland France.
The Ministry of Health, Olivier Véran, warned on Wednesday that the country was facing an epidemic “tidal wave” caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, with the threshold of 200,000 infections crossed for the first time since the start of the health crisis last year.
In its daily update, Public Health France (SPF) said Thursday that the Omicron variant was “now in the majority”, while 62.4% of tests show a “compatible profile” with the variant reported first in South Africa on last month.
Several large cities, including Paris and Lyon, have decided to re-impose the wearing of masks outdoors and to put in place additional restrictions for the New Year’s festivities.
Over seven days, the average daily contamination in France now stands at 121,566, an unprecedented peak four times higher than the average recorded a month earlier.
According to official data released Thursday, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 climbed to 18,321, 465 more than the day before, a level it had not reached for seven months. Among them, 3,506 patients are treated in intensive care, an increase of 37 in 24 hours.
The health crisis caused 180 additional deaths in twenty-four hours, for a toll of 123,552 deaths in hospitals and nursing homes.
(Report Benoît van Overstraeten, written by Tangi Salaün and Jean Terzian)
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