Covid-19: Olivier Véran envisages a "drop in contamination" in the coming days

France close to the peak?

Cautious, Olivier Véran gave a glimpse on France Info of a "drop in contamination" with Covid-19 in the coming days.

"This is the hypothesis that we are following", explained the Minister of Health, basing himself on the situation in England in particular where after an explosion of cases the curve is again oriented downward.

Covid-19: the government "follows the hypothesis of a decrease in the number of contaminations" these "next days", according to Olivier Véranhttps: //t.co/3mQaw78Xlk pic.twitter.com/NLZIMiq0Is

- franceinfo (@franceinfo) January 12, 2022

“What is certain is that the Omicron variant has circulated a lot and that if we follow the curves observed in certain countries which precede us, we could expect to be soon at a peak form, but is it a peak or plateau?

I cannot tell you, "confessed Olivier Véran, noting however that the Omicron variant" may have increased less quickly in recent days than it has increased ".

Tuesday evening, Public Health France reported more than 368,000 new contaminations, a new record if we take into account only the statements communicated each evening.

After a catch-up, the health agency announced Friday that 400,000 people had tested positive on the single day of Monday, January 3, 2022. “When we make 370,000 diagnoses on a given day, we can consider that there is no no less than a million French people who contract ”the virus, detailed on France info Olivier Véran, while asymptomatic people may tend not to test themselves.

"We are not trying to let this variant circulate"

Contamination levels are so high they are. "The certainty is that the Omicron variant will circulate and cross the planet, the countries which have set up containment, they will be crossed by Omicron when they will deconfin," explained Olivier Véran. And the Minister of Health to admit: “It is too contagious. Traditional measures have no impact on a variant as contagious as this one. "We are not trying to let this variant circulate," he says.

As for keeping schools open, despite the widespread circulation of the virus among the youngest, Olivier Véran repeats that "we want to keep the school open". "It is out of the question to let the virus circulate, so we want to slow it down, but not to slow down education", supports the Minister of Health. The relaxation of the health protocol, with a self-test rather than a PCR or antigen test for the first day, is a "pragmatic reassessment", also said the Minister of Health.

Still, the pressure due to the fifth wave of Covid is still increasing on the hospital, which has more than 23,000 patients, including nearly 4,000 in critical care, according to figures released Tuesday evening by Public Health France .

A week ago, around 19,600 Covid patients were hospitalized.

In 24 hours, 270 people were killed by the disease, bringing the total number of deaths to 125,988 since the start of the epidemic.