The flu epidemic continues to progress in France, where it has now spread to all regions of the metropolis, according to the weekly report from Public Health France published on Wednesday.
The past week has seen “a continued increase in all flu indicators in mainland France”, indicated the public health agency, observing that “all metropolitan areas are currently in epidemic”.
Corsica, until then the last region spared, has gone into the epidemic phase.
Impact on hospitals
The rise of the flu has repercussions on city medicine and the hospital. The intensity of activity linked to the epidemic has increased there in the past week, going from “low” to “moderate” in both cases.
This outbreak of the flu is unusually late in the season. In recent years, the peak of the epidemic, measured by the consultation rate in relation to the number of inhabitants, took place in February.
This phenomenon was “most likely favored by the end of winter school holidays and the easing of control measures for the Covid-19 pandemic”, according to Public Health France, which recalls the importance of barrier gestures.
Regarding the 2021-2022 influenza vaccine, the first data estimate its effectiveness at 50% against all influenza viruses.
Data which should be consolidated in the coming weeks, according to the health agency.