Covid-19: the Institut Pasteur predicts an outbreak of the pandemic in mid-March and calls for re-containment

The epidemic has not stopped growing in France.

The country could experience an epidemic outbreak at the onset of spring and reach some 50,000 daily cases on March 20, according to projections by the Institut Pasteur de Lille, which Le Journal du Dimanche echoes.

In particular, the progression of variants, now in the majority.

A week before the last confinement at the end of October, the number of daily cases of Covid-19 was around 40,000. So at nearly 50,000 in March, Philippe Amouyel and Luc Dauchet, the two scientists from the Institut Pasteur at the origin of these projections are clear: a new confinement is required.

"The sooner we act, the better"

“We have saved time when we will have no other choice than confinement.

But the sooner we act, the better, ”says Luc Dauchet, who opposes the executive, determined to avoid this radical measure by all means.

For Philippe Amouyel, “(it) is interesting to delay confinement if we manage to link up with vaccination.

In Brittany, for example, it could work.

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The latest forecasts from the Institut Pasteur, which indicated a strong epidemic resurgence from the end of February, were ultimately not verified.

“We did not understand why it fell,” recognizes Philippe Amouyel.

However, "the curve has shifted in time but we still find the same", he says, estimating that this forecast remains valid for in three weeks.