No more patients in the hospital and in intensive care units, no more contamination: while the signs of runaway from the Covid-19 epidemic multiply, Emmanuel Macron still promises to accelerate the vaccination, by expanding it as of this week -end to over 70s and teachers in April.
Every day his announcement: Monday, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran unveiled the upcoming opening of vaccinodromes;
Tuesday, during a visit to a vaccination center in Valenciennes (North), the Head of State promised that the 70-75 year olds, without comorbidities, could be vaccinated from Saturday, or about 3.5 millions more people.
In the rest of the world, restrictive measures are on the increase, particularly in Colombia, Norway and the Netherlands.
Brazil has just crossed a new and sinister record, recording more than 3,000 deaths in just 24 hours.
Read also: These start-ups that help streamline vaccination behind the scenes
In France, the number of Covid patients treated in intensive care continues to increase
4,400 Sunday, more than 4,550 Monday, 4,634 Tuesday, the number of Covid-19 patients treated in intensive care continues to increase, approaching the peak of the 2nd wave of autumn (4,900 on November 16).
"
At the peak of autumn, it had been more than 15 days that we were in confinement, very strong braking measures had been taken
", underlined Frédéric Valletoux, the president of the Hospital Federation of France (FHF).
“
I say to the government: we really have to keep our finger on the stop button.
And if in a few days, we notice that the figures are not reversing, that the trends are not calming down, we will have to press the stop button, that is to say a real reconfinement button
”, s is he worried about LCI.
The total number of hospitalizations is also on the rise, with 26,756 patients treated in hospitals.
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Covid-19: Macron asks the French reconfined to "keep the rules"
Read also: Is the saturation of intensive care services a usual phenomenon?
More and more departments exceed the alert threshold
In Île-de-France, according to figures stopped on Saturday, the incidence rate has soared to 551 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last seven days, well above the maximum alert threshold of 250. Now 42 departments exceed this maximum alert threshold, against only 23 on March 10.
A curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. will be introduced in Martinique from Friday for a period of three weeks, to counter a resumption of the epidemic, announced the prefect on Tuesday, Stanislas Cazelles.
Read also: Covid-19: Is your department at risk of being reconfigured?
Emmanuel Macron promises to vaccinate more
"
There are no weekends and public holidays for vaccination
" which is "
the heart of the battle
", insisted the Head of State during a trip to the vaccination center of Valenciennes, so that France is counting on an increase in supplies in April.
The over 70s can be vaccinated from April: they should not return so quickly in the vaccination campaign, but the Ministry of Health explains that according to "
feedback from the field
", "
the delay of appointment bookings (over 75s) increased, enough to suggest that there could be a risk of dose loss, that appointments would not be made
”.
Beyond the expansion of the target, the Health Insurance will also launch a campaign of telephone calls "
to offer vaccination
" to over 75 years who have not made a move or have become discouraged, also explains at the Ministry of Health, where it is pointed out that "
nearly half
" of this age group has already received a first injection.
To read also: "Hello Doctor, do you have any remaining doses?": These French people who are vaccinated without being given priority
France hopes to have received 27.9 million doses of vaccines at the end of April, against 34.8 million according to a forecast at the end of February.
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, nearly 6.6 million people received a first dose, of which 2.5 million were vaccinated with two doses.
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Olivier Véran announces the deployment of "
35 vaccinodromes
" by firefighters and the army
Read also: Covid-19: with vaccinodromes, France finally agrees to "industrialize" its vaccination
Pfizer suspended in Macau and Hong Kong
Macao and Hong Kong announced on Wednesday the suspension of their vaccination campaign with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine after being informed by the laboratory of a problem with the packaging of a batch of vials.
"
As a precautionary principle, the current vaccination must be suspended for the duration of the investigation,
" said the Hong Kong executive in a statement.
The two territories said they made the decision after being contacted by Fosun, the Chinese pharmaceutical company that distributes the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in China.
According to the authorities, the vials bearing the lot number 210102 showed a defective type of packaging.
Doubts about the effectiveness of AstraZeneca
While the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine is crucial at a time when the third wave of the pandemic is accelerating in Europe, an American institute on Tuesday launched a new paving stone in the pond: the Swedish-British laboratory was able to use data "
obsolete
During its clinical trials in the United States.
According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Allergies (NIAID), which oversees clinical trials of vaccines in the United States, this may
"have resulted in an incomplete estimate of the effectiveness
" of the vaccine.
AstraZeneca, urged by the institute to "
make public as soon as possible
" the "
most precise, most recent and most effective possible
" data, indicated that it would provide recent data to the US regulator within 48 hours.
Read also: AstraZeneca to provide recent data to the US regulator within 48 hours
New measures in Norway, extensions in the Netherlands
Norway will temporarily ban the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants, and force travelers from abroad to complete their entire quarantine at hotels to stem a rebound in Covid cases, the government said.
The Netherlands will extend until April 20 the restrictive measures in place to fight the pandemic, which is worsening in the kingdom, while reducing the duration of the curfew by one hour.
In Brazil, more than 3,000 dead in 24 hours
Brazil crossed the threshold of 3,000 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours for the first time on Tuesday, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
The country of 212 million people recorded 3,251 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total deaths to 298,676 for 12.1 million cases.
Brazil is the second most bereaved country on the planet by the coronavirus pandemic in absolute numbers behind the United States.
Read also: Brazil: more than 3,000 dead from Covid-19 in 24 hours, new record
Over 2.7 million dead
The pandemic has killed at least 2,723,899 people around the world since the end of December, according to a report established by AFP on Tuesday.
The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 542,949 deaths for 29,869,514 recorded cases, ahead of Brazil (295,425), Mexico (198,239), India (160,166) and United Kingdom (126,172).