The coronavirus epidemic continues to progress in France.
15,797 new cases have been detected in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health announced on Friday, September 25.
The day before, 16,096 cases had been detected.
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55 people have died from Covid-19 in France in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 31,661 victims.
95 people have died in nursing homes since the last assessment carried out for these establishments.
A total of 6,128 people are hospitalized, including 97 news in 24 hours.
129 patients have been in intensive care since yesterday.
The epidemic is in an "
ascending phase
"
The Covid-19 epidemic in France is still in "
an ascending phase
", warned Santé Publique France (SPF) during an online press briefing, noting several "
worrying
"
points
for the coming weeks and inviting to remain “
cautious
” in the face of the few signs of stabilization.
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Last week, emergency room visits for suspected Covid-19 increased by 21%, hospitalizations by 34% and new intensive care admissions by 40%, which constitutes an “
exponential
”
increase
.
The number of deaths, which started to rise again two weeks ago, rose again by 25% last week, with 332 deaths in hospitals or nursing homes, specifies SPF.
The health agency also notes the "
increasingly strong circulation
" of the virus among the elderly, who are at greater risk of developing a serious form of the disease.
The rate of new cases has "
quadrupled since mid-August
" among those aged 75 and over, reaching 55.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, and by three among those aged 65-74, to 44.5 per 100,000
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A total of 66,671 new confirmed cases of Sars-CoV-2 infection were detected last week, up 8%.
Last week, 1 million people were tested for virology (out of 1.3 million tests performed), but the rate of testing fell slightly from the previous week.
"
These are figures that worry us because it suggests that we will have a continuation of hospitalizations, admissions in intensive care and possibly deaths
" in the coming weeks, explained the organization.
Antigenic tests, Parisian bars, Marseille ... What to remember of the day
As for the celebrations, the High Authority for Health (HAS) gave the green light on Friday to a third type of tests, antigenic tests, to diagnose Covid-19 in people who have symptoms, with the hope of "
unclog
”laboratories.
These tests deliver a result in 20 to 30 minutes.
The HAS had already approved, a week ago, saliva tests for people with symptoms.
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Another point to remember: gymnasiums and swimming pools, which were to be closed in all territories on "
heightened alert
", will finally be opened, said the police headquarters.
Another clarification, the ban on gatherings of more than 10 people on public roads "
does not apply to demonstrations of a protest nature, which must nevertheless be declared at the prefecture,
" the statement added.
Parisian bars will indeed close at 10 p.m.
Restaurants, which do not serve “
alcohol without food
”, will not be affected by this anti-Covid restriction, the police headquarters said in a message sent to the mayors of the arrondissement.
Finally, in the standoff between Marseille and the health restrictions decided by the executive on Wednesday evening, which involve the closure of bars and restaurants in the city of Bouches-du-Rhône from Monday and for a period of at least two weeks, the elected Samia Ghali announced that "
the municipal police will not sanction open restaurants and bars
".
However, a few hours later, the LR president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region Renaud Muselier announced that the measure of total closure of bars and restaurants in the metropolis of Aix-Marseille will be implemented "
to from Sunday evening
”.
Several hundred people gathered on Friday morning in the Marseille city to demonstrate against this restriction.
Read also: Coronavirus: in Marseille, is the situation really worse than in other large metropolises?
"
I am perfectly aware that some of the measures are debating (...), raise concerns, questions, even anger,
" assured the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, visiting this Friday afternoon at the Marseille public hospital in La Timone. "
These measures are necessary, they are temporary but they are not arbitrary
". While waiting for the situation to improve on its own, "
we risk having to take even stronger measures than those we have just announced,
" replied the unhappy elected officials.