New record.
According to the latest data published by Public Health France, as of December 17, 2021, more than 76,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Île-de-France in one week.
Across the region, the incidence of the epidemic reached 624, exceeding the 614 recorded at the height of the 3rd wave, at the beginning of last April.
Paris is by far the most affected area since the incidence reached 888. Hauts-de-Seine and Val-de-Marne followed with 671 and 629. The greater crown and Seine-Saint-Denis recorded levels included between 500 and 600. In all departments, the trend is red.
Here too, the capital displays the most worrying situation: positive tests have jumped by + 35% in just one week.
Even if it is impossible to precisely measure the weight of the Omicron variant in these contaminations, it is now clear that it weighs heavily on the situation.
"The Omicron variant is progressing with 326 cases confirmed by sequencing in Ile-de-France, which now represents more than 25% of new cases, against less than 5% a week ago" according to the Regional Health Agency, that we contacted.
Read also Omicron: Île-de-France, region most affected by the Covid-19 variant
A trend driven by the unprecedented level of screening at work in the region.
On December 17, 268,000 people went to be tested in one day.
The previous record was dated August 20, with 207,000 tests carried out in a single day.
A strong activity in the laboratory which weighs on the measured incidence: who seeks more, has more chance of finding.
Of these screenings, 6.4% on average were positive last week.
It was 11% in April.
"An increase of 8% in one week", specifies the ARS, coming to qualify the trend.
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On the other hand, these contaminations mainly concern young people, since nearly half of the people who tested positive last week were between 20 and 39 years old.
Coupled with the fact that "87% of Ile-de-France residents display a complete vaccination schedule", still according to the ARS, the probability that this outbreak will result in saturation of the hospital system is less important than last spring.
The hospital system still afloat
To take the real pulse of the severity of the epidemic, the most reliable barometer remains in the hospital.
This last week, the Regional Agency noted that "the occupation continues to increase by nearly 12.8% and more than 9.4% in critical care".
Monday evening, December 20, 2021, 1,486 patients were received in "conventional hospitalization" and 570 occupied a place in critical care.
“We have clearly exceeded the peak of the 4th wave of this summer in occupation, as in admissions.
In contrast, we are below the peak of Wave 3 in April 2021, where three times as many critical care beds were occupied in the region (1,798 to April 4, 2021).
Levels which in no way alter the vigilance of the health authorities, since they confess that they have their eye riveted on "the rapid evolution of the epidemic situation with the Omicron variant".
A few days before the New Year, the ARS once again invites the Ile-de-France population to make good resolutions: "respect the barrier gestures during the end of the year celebrations and go to recall".