Weeks go by, and the records keep piling up.
During the holiday season, between Christmas and New Year's Day, the French flocked to pharmacies, laboratories and test barnums, while contaminations exploded.
The figures are impressive: according to the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), attached to the Ministry of Health, between December 27 and January 2, nearly 8.3 million of samples have been validated by a healthcare professional.
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In total, France will therefore have carried out 168.21 million tests over the whole of last year, summarizes the Drees.
A little less than half were antigenic, and more than 11% of the total samples in 2021 were carried out during the last fifteen days of the year, while demand exploded: between the weeks of December 20 and 27, the number of tests jumped 1.42 million, an increase of 20%.
Unheard of so far, and proof that the French have heard the calls from the health authorities to increase the number of tests to ensure the smooth running of the holidays.
"
This is the new record for the number of tests carried out during a week
", underlines the statistical service of the Ministry of Health, which specifies that the increase is carried by 16-65 years.
All age groups see their number of samples jump, leading to a new daily record on December 31, with 1.88 million validated tests.
Another illustration of the current impressive demand: out of the ten busiest days since December 2020, in terms of the number of tests, nine are among the last fifteen days of December 2021. And, from December 24 to January 1 inclusive, France has come close to 10 million tests carried out ... in nine days.
A ceiling soon to be reached?
Despite this strong pressure and the often endless queues in front of laboratories and pharmacies, "
validation times increase only slightly
": on average, the time between sampling and validation of the test result is 0.6 days , against 0.5 days the previous week, notes the Drees and 86% of RT-PCR tests are validated in less than 24 hours, a figure down sharply compared to 92% the previous week.
Faced with significant demand for several weeks, professionals in the sector ensure that they are ready and armed to cope. But two limits appear: first, the staff are exhausted, both in pharmacies and in laboratories. "
The staff is on the knees
", explained in our columns Lionel Barrand, the president of the Union of young medical biologists. "
We are worried about our staff, who are accumulating several months of constant effort
," a representative of the Association for the Progress of Medical Biology (APBM) also told Le Figaro.
Over time, the exceptional mobilization may be difficult to bear, therefore, for bloodless staff.
In addition, the testing capacity "
is not unlimited
", according to the APBM: queues are multiplying, while contaminations explode, pushing an increasing number of people to go for testing.
The government is also relying on self-tests to unclog the industry, while the cost of the screening campaign has also increased, reaching 6 billion in 2021, against 5.2 billion initially planned, according to Olivier Dussopt.
