As if it did not have enough to do with the Omicron variant of Covid-19, Île-de-France must at the same time deal with the epidemic of seasonal flu.
It has just exceeded the epidemic threshold of this disease which continues to accelerate in France, according to the latest bulletin from the French public health agency.
Last week, Occitania became the first metropolitan region to cross this threshold.
In overseas territories, Mayotte and Reunion are also affected.
After a Christmas week marked by a "continued increase in influenza indicators, particularly in children," according to Public Health France, now around Île-de-France.
Île-de-France is spending this week in an epidemic phase for the #flu.
At the national level, "continued increase in indicators [to a usual level for this period], particularly among children" .https: //t.co/fz0I6pN6D9 pic.twitter.com/jaW88cctlm
- Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) December 29, 2021
A large number of regions - Brittany, Grand Est, Hauts-de-France, Pays de la Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - are also at the preliminary stage, that of the pre-epidemic phase.
Normandy and Burgundy-Franche-Comté are still spared.
2020 spared, 2021 flu
Last winter, confinements and anti-Covid barrier gestures helped block all viruses, including influenza.
The French have been less infected than usual and are therefore less immunized collectively, which raises fears of a stronger epidemic this year, as well as for other diseases such as gastroenteritis.
This has already been the case for several weeks with bronchiolitis, a disease that mainly affects babies.
Common and highly contagious, it causes coughing and difficult, rapid, wheezing and wheezing.
Most of the time benign, it may however require a visit to the emergency room, or even hospitalization.
Read alsoBronchiolitis: the right actions to adopt so that your baby does not fall ill
Last week, all of the metropolitan areas were still hit by this epidemic, a situation that has been going on since early November.
However, there has been "a decrease in emergency room visits (and) hospitalizations," notes Public Health France.
A total of 3,824 children under the age of two went to the emergency room with bronchiolitis last week, and a large third were hospitalized.