Asked this Monday, January 3 on France Inter, Olivier Véran said that the number of Covid cases "
will continue to increase in the coming days
". While more than 230,000 contaminations were recorded on Saturday, January 1 in France, the Minister of Solidarity and Health referred to "
an
unprecedented
level
" of contaminations, with "
perhaps half a million daily contaminations
". “
We have never recorded so many contaminations around the world,
” he added.
The Minister of Solidarity and Health pointed out the dangerousness of the Omicron variant, which poses "
a risk of saturation in our hospitals of conventional hospital beds
". “
Omicron is less dangerous, it causes fewer acute respiratory distress syndromes, and the need for intensive care beds is lower than with the previous variants. On the other hand, it can bedridden fragile people with a very high fever and a very strong cough,
”said Olivier Véran.
Asked about the relaxation of the rules on the isolation of people tested positive or contact cases, Olivier Véran spoke of the risk of “
social dysfunction
” caused by the Omicron variant.
He again called on the French to protect themselves by being vaccinated, and mentioned a goal of "
25 million injections in the next five weeks
".
