L’summer returns… And the Covid-19 with it. More than 200,000 new cases have been detected in 24 hours in France, announced Tuesday, July 5 the Minister of Health, François Braun. Unheard of for three months when the virus seems to be circulating actively on the territory again. On average, at 1er July, there are 105,000 cases per day, five times more than at the beginning of June. We have to go back to mid-April to find such a level. At this rate, the previous wave of early spring should be surpassed by the end of the month, where some scientists predict the epidemic peak, although remaining cautious about it.
We are certainly still far from the records of the beginning of the year, where we counted up to more than 365,000 cases per day on average at the end of January, but the seventh wave is there. Ile-de-France is the most affected region, with an incidence rate of 1,249.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days. Outside the capital, the cases are mainly concentrated on the Atlantic coast while millions of holidaymakers are preparing to hit the coasts. If all regions are not yet affected at the same level, the incidence rate is increasing everywhere – it has even doubled in the Vosges, Allier and Ariège.
The government does not seem, for the moment, to foresee the return of restrictive measures, contenting itself with calling on the French to put the mask back on in very crowded places. The impact of this umpteenth epidemic rebound on health services remains to be seen. Despite a record number of cases in early 2022, due to the Omicron variant, intensive care units had not been as overwhelmed as in the past. “The sub-variants we are talking about have the same characteristics as the Omicron variant,” the minister told the deputies. A very high transmissibility, but a less severe clinical picture than the historical strains of the virus. »