“Not far from 300,000 contaminations identified in 24 hours”: a hitherto unprecedented number of Covid-19 cases was announced by the Minister of Health during questions to the government in the National Assembly. Public Health France recorded 271,686 this Tuesday, once morest 179,807 seven days ago. On December 31, 232,200 contaminations had been counted. The average over the past week now exceeds 180,000 cases per day. The Omicron “tidal wave” is growing.
VIDEO. “Not far from 300,000 cases in 24 hours”, announces Véran
The increase in recorded cases is partly explained by an unprecedented number of tests: eight million last week, according to the minister, who mentions both PCR tests and “antigenic” tests, less precise but faster. However, the epidemic outbreak is very real as evidenced by the jump in the “positivity rate”, that is, the proportion of cases among the only people tested. It now exceeds 15%, close to its autumn 2020 records.
The incidence rate (number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past week) jumped 130.3% in one week. It now stands at 1,832.4.
The effective vaccine once morest severe forms
If the number of contaminations makes you “dizzy”, as Olivier Véran reiterated, he insisted on the protection conferred by vaccination, which remains largely effective once morest serious forms of Covid-19 if it is not once morest it. infection with Omicron.
Vaccines “do not prevent contamination, but on the other hand prevent the development of the virus once it has contaminated you (…) and therefore serious forms”, he insisted. “For a patient vaccinated with a booster in intensive care, there are 20 unvaccinated patients in our intensive care units. “, Continued the minister, defending the health pass established by the government, which must be followed by a vaccination pass. The debates will resume Tuesday evening, following their suspension the day before.
More than 20,000 hospitalized patients
The increase in hospitalizations of patients “diagnosed with Covid” continues. According to Public Health France, 20,186 of these patients are currently treated in hospital, while there were 19,606 the day before, and 17,405 last Tuesday. 2,881 people have been admitted to hospital in the past 24 hours compared to 2,160 on Monday. Daily hospitalizations jumped 38% in one week.
Among these patients, the health agency has 3,665 patients in critical care, the care units reserved for the most severe cases, once morest 3,654 the day before and 3,416 a week earlier, while the Delta variant is putting hospitals under pressure . In 24 hours, 460 patients entered critical care.
297 new deaths are also to be deplored, daily deaths increased by 11% in one week.
More than 25.5 million French people have had a booster dose
According to the report communicated Tuesday evening by the Directorate General of Health, 25,544,063 people received a booster dose. Since the start of the vaccination campaign in France, 53,003,727 people have received at least one injection, or 78.6% of the total population. 51,833,129 people now have a complete vaccination schedule, or 76.9% of the total population. Regarding the adult population, 92% of them had received at least one injection and 90% had a complete vaccination schedule as of January 2.