The Covid-19 epidemic is accelerating "
worryingly
" in Dunkirk and Gravelines (North) and the English variant is very present there, the health authorities alerted Wednesday, who will organize next week "
an exceptional screening campaign
" in the area.
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“
The Dunkirk and Gravelinois have been experiencing a worrying acceleration in the circulation of Covid-19 for several weeks.
Thus, the incidence rates in the urban community of Dunkirk and the community of communes of Hauts-de-Flandre (...) respectively reach 485 and 424 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
”(against 208 nationally), indicates Wednesday evening the Hauts-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS) in a press release.
In these municipalities, "
the positivity rate of the tests reaches 10%
".
Since mid-January, the health authorities have carried out "
a systematic search for variants
On positive tests.
According to analyzes carried out Monday and Tuesday by a private laboratory, out of 1367 tests carried out in Dunkirk, 172 were positive, including 117 revealing the presence of the British variant.
In Gravelinois, out of 305 PCR tests performed, 32 were positive, including 17 with the English variant. ”
"In Dunkirk, the penetration rate of the English variant is three times higher than the regional average, and six times higher than the national average"
, alerted the mayor of the town Patrice Vergriete on Wednesday morning on his Facebook page, calling on the inhabitants
" with the greatest vigilance ”.
“The reception here at the hospital reaches the alert level.
Today, 55 patients are in fact hospitalized for Covid, nine are in intensive care, in a service which is now saturated, which last weekend required the transfer of ten patients to other hospitals in the region, ”he explains in a short video shot at the hospital.
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Faced with this situation and the "very marked presence of the English variant"
,
"an exceptional screening campaign is being organized by the ARS and its partners in several municipalities in the sector.
It will be offered to the population in the course of next week, ”adds the ARS press release.
The health authorities also intend to deploy in this territory “the new system of anti-covid mediators, which allows in the same place and at the same time to perform tests, carry out contact tracing and deliver prevention messages”.