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Currently, we are in wave 9. Like a feeling it’s the never ending story ! Anyway, the virus is still present in France according to specialists. Thus, we give you an update on Covid-19: the number of hospitalizations, deaths, etc. Obviously, she remains leading cause of death in France. We explain to you with our colleagues from The Midi Dispatch.
Covid-19: number 1 culprit of deaths in France?
Alpha, Delta, Omicron, who’s next? In three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 has seen the birth of several variants. These have new features. They are more contagious, more resistant to vaccines, but less dangerous. This is the case of Omicron, which has been present in the pandemic landscape for regarding a year. Thus, this reassures the nursing staff at the level of the overload in the hospital. But, knowing this information, some people are also less cautious and have abandoned barrier gestures or other health recommendations.
The 9ᵉ wave is on!
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But, then, if we contract Covid-19, do we really have less risk of dying? For this 9th wave, France has a large number of hospitalizations. According to the latest figures relayed by Public Health France, 21,000 victims are in the hospital ward. « Hospitalizations remain on the rise, including in critical care« says Antoine Flahault, an epidemiologist and director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Geneva to journalists from The Midi Dispatch. In addition, he informs that hospitalizations in France “ exceed the peaks of the two previous waves […] The impact of Covid-19 remains significant, even if it no longer causes hospital saturation« .
Covid-19 kills less today than in 2020…
However, good news! Mortality due to Covid-19 is down. ” Covid-19 killed 65,000 people in France in 2020, 60,000 in 2021 and is still expected to kill more than 35,000 people in 2022“, explains Professor Antoine Flahault. Thus, he admits that the virus is « therefore not kill ‘always as much’ as at the start of the pandemic« .
Epidemic specialists explain this drop in deaths thanks to the arrival of less dangerous variants : « We are now witnessing the appearance of so-called ‘immune escape’ variants, which do not present any symptom aggravation factor, but which have increased their ability to spread.“, informs Doctor Bruno Lina, virologist and member of the Committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks (Covars).
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Researchers also believe that vaccination also played a positive role in the epidemic : « There is collective immunity following past infections, which slows down virus circulation« explains Doctor Lina before adding: “ It is the vaccine that causes less and less severe forms of Covid-19, says Professor Flahault. The variants that are now circulating therefore have a considerably reduced virulence due to the wide vaccination coverage, in particular of the elderly.. »
… but the new variants are more resistant to vaccines!
But there is also bad news. Indeed, the new variants are resistant to vaccines. So the Covid-19 continues to circulate and cause five times more contamination unlike the first variants. So more people are catching the virus and so deaths are still high. ” Unfortunately, we still have a high absolute number of deaths from Covid-19« , notes Antoine Flahault with regret. Currently, Covid-19 is “ equal game ” with the myocardial infarction and stroke « which were before the pandemic the first two causes of death in the country“. Stay vigilant this winter!
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