Patients with Covid-19 stay in hospital for less time and are sent to intensive care less when they are infected with the Omicron variant, which has become the majority in France in recent weeks, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran reported on Monday January 10. .
Compared to its predecessors, including the Delta variant in particular, Omicron "
gives less respiratory distress, so it sends fewer patients to intensive care
," said Olivier Véran during a hearing before the senators.
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Appeared at the end of 2021, Omicron caused an explosion of Covid cases in France, as in many other countries, because of a much higher contagiousness than previous incarnations of the virus.
But it is also clearly shown to be less dangerous, even if it is still difficult to determine to what extent this lesser severity will offset the explosion of cases.
"
Strong enough influenza syndromes
"
Omicron still causes "
fairly strong influenza syndromes
" and leads, like previous versions of the virus, "
a significant increase in hospitalizations
", warned Olivier Véran.
But "
we know with sufficient hindsight now (that the stays are) shorter than with the previous variants,
" he noted, noting that Omicron seems to affect the upper parts of the airways rather (and therefore affects less. lungs than other variants).
Hospitalized patients "
will have oxygen requirements for three to four days and (...) then will be able to leave
", detailed the Minister.
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The duration of Covid hospitalizations is a crucial issue in measuring to what extent the health system risks being saturated while the Omicron wave is not showing any signs of letting up in France for the time being.
In this regard, Olivier Véran refrained from advancing on the date of a possible peak but noticed that encouraging signs were coming from the United Kingdom, where Omicron spread before France.
"
In the London area, where it struck first, it drops
," noted Mr. Véran also citing South Africa, one of the first countries where Omicron was spotted, where the wave linked to the variant seems now passed.
