A Christmas Eve at the peak of the wave.
This Friday, Public Health France counted a total of 16,173 patients hospitalized due to Covid-19, including 3,254 patients treated in critical care.
On Thursday, the institute counted 16,060 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals, including 3,208 in critical care.
Seven days ago, the total number of patients was 15,410, including 2,901 severe cases.
169 new deaths linked to Covid-19 were also recorded this Friday, bringing the total of deaths to at least 122,400 in France.
The threat of the Omicron variant
The rise in contaminations worries in France, while the Omicron variant settles in Europe, and will probably supplant the Delta variant between Christmas and New Year's Day, according to the government.
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President Emmanuel Macron will hold a Health Defense Council dedicated to the epidemic on Monday afternoon, just before the Council of Ministers which must adopt the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass.