Rebound in the number of tests in France, change in isolation rules for unvaccinated contact cases in colleges and high schools, the EMA which warns of an epidemic resumption...
Le Figaro
takes stock this Thursday, March 17 on the latest information related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read the dossierCovid-19: the coronavirus pandemic in figures and infographics
Rebound in the number of Covid tests last week
This is the
“first increase for two months”
: 2.52 million PCR and antigen screenings were validated between March 7 and 13, up 8% compared to the previous week, notes the Statistics Department (Drees ) in a press release.
Following the fifth epidemic wave, the demand for tests had increased from November to early January, peaking at nearly 12 million with the start of the school year following the Christmas holidays.
The rebound observed concerned all age groups, but it was
“particularly carried by the youngest”
last week, in particular children and adolescents under 16 (+ 21%).
While most of the anti-Covid restrictions were lifted on Monday, the strong and long fifth wave of the epidemic, which was clearly coming down in mid-March, has been on the rise for several days.
Contaminations reached 74,912 on Wednesday, on a daily average over seven days, a level which had not been recorded since February 22.
Read alsoCovid-19: are we witnessing the start of a new epidemic wave?
Colleges and high schools: unvaccinated students and contact cases will no longer have to isolate themselves
From Monday, contact case students from college and high school over the age of 12 who are not vaccinated will no longer have to isolate themselves for seven days, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday.
“They will respect the same rules as contact cases with a complete vaccination schedule, namely the performance of a self-test on D2”
, explains the Ministry of National Education.
Until now, unvaccinated contact case students over the age of 12 had to isolate themselves for 7 days, which made many teachers fear that these young people would be isolated several times, with consequences for follow-up. pedagogic.
Wearing a mask indoors is on the other hand
“strongly recommended for 7 days after the occurrence of the confirmed case”,
SEE ALSO -
"It's the first time we've seen our teacher": these high school students delighted to return to class without a mask
Not 'enough evidence' for need for second booster dose, says EMA
"I would like to reiterate that there is not yet enough evidence (...) to support the recommendation of a second booster dose in the general population
," said Marco Cavaleri, chief of the vaccine strategy of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
“Infection rates are rising again in some member states after the steady decline we have seen in recent weeks
,” he also observed at a press conference.
The wave of infections seems to be carried by the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron, which seems more contagious than the other variants of SARS-CoV-2, underlined Marco Cavaleri.
The lifting of restrictions likely also contributed to the rise in cases, he said.
"There is currently no evidence that post-vaccination immune evasion is significantly different with Omicron BA.2
," he said, however.
The activity of monoclonal antibodies, on the other hand, can vary significantly against each subvariant of Omicron, he said, again calling on citizens to get vaccinated.
Read alsoA “Deltacron” variant detected in France
China: Xi Jinping orders the continuation of zero Covid and to stop the contagion
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday ordered to continue the policy of zero Covid and to curb
the coronavirus epidemic
"as soon as possible", national television reported.
China has been facing its worst epidemic resurgence since the first wave of 2020 for the past few days, with tens of millions of people confined across the country.
Several confinements have already been decreed, in particular in the province of Jilin (northeast), where a large part of the cases have been identified, and in the technological metropolis of Shenzhen (south), populated by 17.5 million inhabitants.
Read alsoCovid-19: why China, caught up in the virus, refuses to abandon its “zero Covid” strategy
The Ministry of Health reported Thursday 2,432 new cases of Covid-19, distributed in almost all provinces.
If these figures are very low compared to many foreign countries, they are high for China, where the authorities are adopting a zero Covid strategy, which aims to limit the occurrence of new cases as much as possible.
"
We must always put people and their lives first, stick to [...] the policy of zero Covid, and stop the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible
," the president said, in remarks reported by the public broadcaster CCTV.
SEE ALSO -
Faced with the rise in cases of Covid-19 infection in China, a temporary hospital set up in Jilin province
Irish Prime Minister tested positive in Washington, Biden is not "contact case"
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday evening in Washington, which forced him to leave a gala attended by Joe Biden, the Irish ambassador to the United States announced.
However, the American president is not considered a “contact case” and his test protocol will not be modified, the White House said on Thursday.
Joe Biden was last tested on Sunday with a negative result, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a recent briefing.
The meeting scheduled for Thursday between the two men in the Oval Office, on the occasion of St. Patrick's Day, a popular Irish holiday, has been replaced by a virtual meeting, said the American presidency.
Read alsoUnited States: the Covid redraws the demographic map
In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day returns after two years of pandemic
After two editions canceled due to the coronavirus, St. Patrick's Day festivities return to Ireland on Thursday, with organizers hoping the celebrations mark the country's post-pandemic rebirth.
Parades of marching bands and dancers in honor of the patron saint of Ireland, a country with a strong Catholic tradition, were among the first to be canceled in 2020, when the world implemented restrictions and confinements to try to slow down the spread of the virus.
Two years later and the last sanitary measures in force have just been lifted, hundreds of thousands of international visitors are expected in Ireland to take part in the festivities.
Read alsoSaint Patrick's Day marks its great return to Dublin and pays tribute to Ukraine
More than 6 million dead
The pandemic has officially killed at least 6,041,660 people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Monday at 11:00 GMT.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (968,325), ahead of Brazil (655,940), India (515,877) and Russia (361,344).
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially established.