“I believe I can tell you, and I hope not to be contradicted by the facts, that we did the hardest part.
The hardest since the start of this pandemic and we have done the hardest since the start of the Omicron wave ”, assured, this Tuesday, at the National Assembly, Olivier Véran, the Minister of Solidarity and Health.
This seems to be confirmed by the incidence rate (number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants) which has dropped below 2,500, a level that is still very high.
This is the twelfth consecutive day of decline.
The incidence rate drops, precisely, by 28.6% over one week.
The positivity rate is also down for the sixth day in a row, with nearly a third of test results positive for coronavirus.
This Tuesday, 235,267 new cases were noted, against 416,896 a week ago.
On the hospital side, there are 3,060 new entries of people diagnosed positive for Covid-19, against 3,917 a week ago.
In total, 33,352 patients treated in hospitals are positive for Covid, against 32,894 seven days ago.
A very high level, almost record.
Be careful however, almost 30% of them, despite their infection, are not treated for Covid but for another reason.
The most serious cases, hospitalized due to the coronavirus, taken care of in critical care services, are decreasing with 3,555 patients this Tuesday evening against 3,751 a week ago.
In the past 24 hours, 320 new entries have been recorded, compared to 454 a week ago.
The number of deaths since the start of the epidemic, almost two years ago, stands at 133,286, with 363 deaths after infection notified to the hospital in the past 24 hours.
Vaccination is slow
One week from February 15, the date of change in the rules of the vaccination pass that around 4 to 5 million French people could lose, the Ministry of Health anticipated a “renew” of vaccination on Tuesday.
Indeed, from February 15, for adults, the booster dose must be carried out as early as 3 months after the end of their initial vaccination schedule, and within a maximum of 4 months.
By February 15, 46 million inhabitants of France will have been vaccinated at least four months ago.
36.7 million have received a booster dose since the beginning of September, with disparities between age groups - young adults are less likely to come for a booster.
Of the remaining 9.3 million, the ministry estimates that 4.5 million were infected less than three months ago.
After a small rebound in early January, the number of daily first injections fell below 12,000 (on average), its lowest level for over a year.
More than a year after the start of the campaign, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyana still show vaccination coverage half that of France as a whole (approximately 45% versus 93% of the population aged at least 12 years received at least one dose).
#Covid19 pic.twitter.com/PF8ofKYqBT
— Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) February 8, 2022
The Ministry of Health hopes to accelerate the anti-Covid vaccination of children, which has been skating since its opening in December.
To date, 257,000 children aged 5 to 11 have received at least one first injection, ie only 4.4% of the age group.
The ministry recalled that Covid-19 could, in certain cases, lead to Pims, a potentially serious pediatric multi-systemic inflammatory syndrome.
“Between March 2, 2021 and January 23, 2022, we had 932 cases of Pims, including 849 linked to Covid”, underlined the ministry, noting a “very clear increase” since the end of 2021. However “vaccination of children protects in particular against Pims syndromes”, he recalled.
Another “alert message” concerns pregnant women: “we still see far too many pregnant women in intensive care”, it is a “point of very great attention”, insisted the Ministry of Health.
Based on the conclusions of international studies, he notably recalled that an unvaccinated pregnant woman was 22 times more likely to give birth prematurely and 18 times more likely to go to intensive care.