Covid-19: outdoor mask, health pass, Indian variant ... Olivier Véran takes stock

“Deconfinement has not broken the virtuous dynamic.

"The Minister of Health Olivier Véran made a progress report this Sunday noon in the program" BFM Politique ", in partnership with Le Parisien - Today in France, on the epidemic situation in France, three days before the new phase of the country's gradual deconfinement.

Here's what to remember.

Green indicators

The epidemic situation "continues to improve", recalled Olivier Véran, specifying that "all the indicators are, at the macro level of the country, green", with "an incidence below 100".

And the Minister to salute the attitude of the French who "vaccinate themselves en masse".

However, the health authorities are warning of a drop in vigilance among people who have been vaccinated for the first time.

“We see that some French people, barely received their first dose, relax their efforts,” explained Olivier Véran.

“You are protected a few days after the second injection.

The level of protection after the 1st injection, especially a few days after, is much too low for it to change anything in your daily life, ”he warned.

Read alsoAfter their first dose, they let their guard down: beware of the "vaccinee syndrome"

Over the coming months, the Minister of Health estimated that if the population continued "to respect the rules", then the virus would continue "to decline".

“We will go below 5,000 cases, then 2,000 cases.

We will not be sure that we have beaten the virus until we reach next November or December, when the climatic conditions of circulation of the virus will be such that we would be exposed to a wave… If the wave does not arrive, then we can say that the Covid is a thing of the past.

"

"No extension" of the Delta variant

"There is no extension of this virus, but there are clusters," acknowledged the Minister of Health, while the Delta variant of Covid-19, formerly called Indian, is slowly continuing its progression in the 'Hexagon, and in particular in the Landes. Saturday, the prefecture and the regional health agency indicated that 29 additional cases of this strain had been identified in the department while the first two cases had been identified there Wednesday in a family. To these 31 proven cases, the ARS adds "about twenty others" on the basis of an estimate.

"The teams on site are doing investigative work to trace the chains of contamination: we are looking for contaminated, contact cases, but also those who have contaminated positive people", explained Olivier Véran this Sunday noon, adding that he there was no “community contamination”, despite “these several dozen cases in the Landes”.

This variant "is 40% more transmissible, which is why we are tracking it in the most determined way possible", he stressed.

Mask outdoors: "We will rest the question for the summer"

"When we wear the mask outside, it is more to protect others, in the event that we ourselves are contaminated, than to protect ourselves", recalled the Minister of Health.

Will this obligation be alleviated as the holidays and the summer heat arrive?

“What is certain is that until the end of June, we do not ask ourselves the question of relaxing, at the national level, the wearing of masks outdoors.

But what is also certain is that the French will not be asked to wear the mask outside for one more day than is necessary.

"

This question will "rest for the summer".

"We will then have a more general discourse on the wearing of the mask outdoors", indicated Olivier Véran, specifying that there could "be differentiated rules".

Two uses for the health pass

The health pass, which should come into force from June 9 in France, will "alleviate the constraints for people vaccinated". It will be divided into two uses: the travel pass, to facilitate travel abroad, and the activity pass, for “certain gatherings with a strong mix of people, such as a major festival”. "We will then ask the same thing of people: if you are vaccinated, it is not worth doing a test", detailed the Minister of Health.