With more than 91,000 confirmed cases, France recorded a new absolute record of Covid contamination on Thursday, as the announced wave of the Omicron variant begins to spread over the country.
On the eve of Christmas Eve in the midst of the fifth epidemic wave, France recorded a new absolute record for Covid contamination on Thursday, while the announced wave of the Omicron variant begins to spread over the country.
The end-of-year celebrations, expected by the French as a welcome respite after almost two years of a pandemic which has disrupted social, personal and professional life, will therefore finally take place under this new threat. It has sparked a rush on testing and worries at the highest level for the very functioning of the country.
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For the first time since the start of the epidemic in March 2020, the threshold of 90,000 daily cases has been crossed, with 91,608 confirmed cases and an average of more than 61,000 cases over the last seven days. The previous record, 86,852 cases, went back to early November 2020, at the peak of the second wave.
In the hope of avoiding contamination with the much more contagious Omicron, the number of tests carried out last week also reached a record, with more than 6.2 million.
Emmanuel Macron also encouraged this precaution, posting a video on TikTok, a network very frequented by young people, and a message on Twitter: “Happy Holidays to all! To those who will have the joy of getting together with their family for Christmas: the barrier gestures, a preventive test to reassure, and in the event of a symptom, we isolate ourselves, we alert. To those mobilized to treat, protect ourselves: thank you. Let’s take care of each other “.
This is the intention of Deborah, 38, waiting to be tested in front of a laboratory in Montrouge, in the suburbs of Paris: “No stress. If I have to have it, I will have it. I just don’t want it. pass it on. My sister-in-law is pregnant. Yes, it’s the holidays and it hurts, but you have to protect those around you “.
The opposition criticized the reaction of the executive. Insubordinate and environmentalists denounced his “lack of anticipation” or his “lack of foresight” because of certain shortages of self-tests. The LR presidential candidate, Valérie Pécresse, for her part called for free tests until January 10, which the government refused to institute for self-tests, for example.
The fifth wave is also swelling in hospitals, which treat 16,060 Covid patients, including 3,208 patients in critical care, against 3,147 the day before. The toll since the start of the epidemic is now approaching 123,000 dead.
Omicron has the majority in Ile-de-France
If the majority of patients are still affected by the Delta variant, scientists and government believe that Omicron, already in the majority in Ile-de-France, will quickly gain the entire territory.
“We will very likely exceed 100,000 contaminations per day by the end of the month”, or even before, estimated the Minister of Health Olivier Véran. However, he noted that where Omicron “circulates a lot, for the moment, it does not lead to waves of hospitalizations”.
This does not prevent specialists from worrying about the potential repercussions.
Jean-François Delfraissy, President of the Scientific Council, thus warned Thursday on the “possible disorganization of a certain number of essential services” – education, transport, security, health … – in January, because of “the ‘absenteeism “and” work stoppages “due to the” very large number of contaminations at Omicron “.
It could therefore become necessary to lighten the isolation rules in order to limit this disorganization, if it is confirmed that Omicron causes fewer severe forms of Covid.
Olivier Véran confirmed Thursday that new modalities could be decided “at the beginning of next week”, stressing that the government would take care to “avoid any phenomenon of paralysis in the country”.
As a warning, SNCF said it had already had to cancel regional trains because of the “effects of this 5th wave”.
And while the government still relies on vaccination, extended since Wednesday to 5/11 years, to contain the wave, protesters sanitary antipass burst Thursday into the hemicycle of the Regional Council of Guadeloupe, breaking in particular the portal of the institution and windows.
The health pass must be transformed into a vaccine pass from January 15, according to the bill consulted Thursday by AFP and which will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Monday.
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