Covid-19: why the number of teleconsultations has exploded in recent days


Yasmina Kattou, edited by Gauthier Delomez

More and more French people are opting for remote consultation with their doctor in this context of the resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic. A reflex that translates into figures: the Doctolib platform recorded a 27% increase in teleconsultations compared to the beginning of December. The trend is increasing due to the contagiousness of Omicron.

The return of a habit taken during the first confinement. The epidemic outbreak that France has been experiencing since mid-December, with the Omicron variant, is pushing the French to consult their doctors remotely. As proof, the Doctolib platform recorded a number of 400,000 reserved teleconsultations, just in the first two weeks of January. The figure climbs to 750,000 consultations if we take into account the last 30 days, an increase of 27% compared to the first weeks of December. In reality, this trend coincides with the explosion of daily Covid-19 contaminations a few days before the end of the year holidays.

Unable to receive all patients in the office

With an average of 300,000 new patients every day in mid-January, it is almost impossible for doctors to receive all patients in the office. “We know the problems that have been posed by contact cases, especially in schools. So the parents called on their attending physician to find out what action should be taken”, explains Jacques Battistoni, general practitioner and president of the MG France union.

The latter adds that with the high contagiousness of Omicron, it is often entire families who are contaminated. A remote consultation also makes it possible to avoid having them come to the very poorly ventilated waiting rooms of the practices.



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