Faced with a wave of Covid-19 which reaches its peak but promises long and difficult weeks in hospitals, a health defense council will be held on Friday afternoon, announced the Elysee Palace on Wednesday, December 15.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal spoke of possible “new decisions” imminent. They would come in addition to other measures taken recently, in particular the extension to all adults of the booster dose of the anti-Covid vaccine, in the face of a doubly problematic situation in terms of the epidemic.
In France as in most of Europe, the flight of contaminations is now reflected in the hospital where the intensive care services are put to the test. According to the latest figures, nearly 3,000 patients are in intensive care and the figure should reach 4,000 at the time of the end of the year holidays, according to Gabriel Attal.
Certainly, in terms of contamination, “we are almost at a situation of equilibrium: (…) we can consider that we are in a peak form”, noted Wednesday the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in front of deputies.
But if the wave reaches its peak, we are far from a relief. First, the peak is high, around 50,000 cases per day. Then, nothing says that the contaminations will come down and not stay at a high plateau.
Above all, and this is the second great peril beyond the current wave, the new Omicron variant is spreading in Europe and its meteoric rise in certain countries, such as the United Kingdom and Denmark, raises fears of increased contagiosity by compared to previous incarnations of the coronavirus.