More than 62% of the screening tests showed a profile compatible with the Omicron variant at the beginning of the week, compared with 15% the previous one, according to Public Health France.
Le Monde with AFP
The Omicron variant is now majority among the SARS-COV-2 infections in France, where the virus has experienced a “significant increase” in recent days, notes public health France In its last weekly inquiry , published Thursday, December 30 in the evening. “62.4% of the screening tests showed a profile compatible with the Omicron variant” at the beginning of the week, compared with 15% the previous one, observes the public agency.
Public health France also notes that the incidence rate (number of cases per week per 100,000 population) is “greater than 1,000 (…) in Ile-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d Azur, Corsica and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes “. The alert threshold is 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
This progression of Variant B.1.1.529, called “Omicron”, was expected because it is particularly contagious and had already become the majority in other countries like the United Kingdom or Portugal. It contributes to current case outbreak – more than 200,000 per day in France Wednesday and Thursday.
In total, French hospitals host 18,321 CIVID-19 patients, including 1,922 new admitted only between Wednesday and Thursday, and more than 3,500 critic care patients.
Sanitary pass Vaccinal pass
In the face of this increase in contaminations, Parisian hospitals are on the front line. “The first certainty is that it goes tanguer”, warns Martin Hirsch, the Director General of Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) in An interview In echos, emphasizing that the Variant Delta continues, too, “to train many admissions”.
Faced with the reset of contamination, the government has announced new sanitary measures on Monday as the mandatory use of teleworking in the companies concerned or the return of gauges for public events.
The Executive also decided to speed up the schedule for the bill transforming the vaccineal passes, which will be discussed on Monday at the National Assembly and January 5 in the Senate with an expected implementation. January 15th.
According to official data, the health crisis caused 180 additional deaths at the hospital in twenty-four hours, for a total of 96,471 dead since it started.