fifth wave, Omicron variant … Why the situation puts the government under pressure by the end of the year holidays

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It’s the “cap”, the “compass” of the executive. “Our wish, our goal, is to be able to spend Christmas together”, hammered Gabriel Attal, government spokesman, Friday, December 3, during a trip to Deux-Sèvres. Faced with the fifth wave of the Covid-19 epidemic and the arrival of the Omicron variant, a health defense council will be held at the Elysee Palace on Monday.

It will be about “see if further action is required”, argued the Prime Minister, Jean Castex. Between deterioration of epidemic indicators and issues surrounding the vast vaccine booster campaign launched in early December, franceinfo takes stock of the main points of tension that the government is scrutinizing.

Because the pressure in hospitals is intensifying

France faces an infection curve “dizzying”, commented Gabriel Attal. And for good reason: nearly 50,000 new cases were identified on Friday. That is a daily seven-day average of 38,887, compared to less than 6,000 a month earlier. An increase that begins to affect the hospital. Some 11,000 Covid-19 patients are currently hospitalized in France, including 2,058 in critical care services, against 6,600 and 1,000 respectively a month earlier.

“In France currently, it is a patient who is admitted to intensive care every ten minutes, day and night”, alerted the Minister of Health to Franceinfo on Friday. “If nothing changes (…), a health peak could occur at the end of January”, added Olivier Véran.

Faced with this growing pressure, several hospitals have already reactivated their “white plan”, which aims to mobilize additional resources to guarantee patient care. Nevertheless, “the time is not for panic”, wants to reassure Olivier Véran: “We are not in the movement of massive deprogramming [d’opérations à l’hôpital] that we have experienced in previous waves. “

“It is not yet the disaster as we have seen in previous episodes. But there is always a 15-day lag between what is happening in the population and the impact in hospitals”, the infectious disease specialist Jean-Paul Stahl reminded Franceinfo on Friday. “What will it be in two weeks, three weeks? I don’t know. You can project that the peak will be after the Christmas and New Years gatherings, but we have learned to be extremely modest. on predictions “, advises the specialist.

Because the Omicron variant has arrived in France

For now, the“common enemy” remains the Delta variant, responsible for the fifth wave, insists the government. But a new threat is emerging with the Omicron variant, whose multiple mutations raise fears of significant contagiousness. Since its detection in South Africa in November, virologists and biology researchers around the world have been busy trying to understand how it works. “We still need a few days to better understand this virus”, recognized Olivier Véran. “For now, there is no alert”, however assured the minister.

In France, twelve cases of infection with the Omicron variant have been confirmed, according to the latest report updated Friday evening by Public Health France. All people who tested positive for this variant “had a history of travel to southern Africa”, specified the organization.

Faced with this variant, Gabriel Attal praised on Saturday a “drastic organization”. France has announced a tightening of travel rules, “to minimize the risk of importing the Omicron variant into our territory”. A new “scarlet red” category, which brings together ten southern African countries, has been created. For all travelers from these countries (PDF link), vaccinated or not, tests are now required on boarding and then on arrival on French soil. A mandatory ten-day quarantine must also be observed.

Because we must conduct a large-scale recall campaign by January 15

“We must continue to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate”, pleaded Friday Emmanuel Macron. Faced with the epidemic upsurge, the executive is banking on the recall campaign now open to all adults. From January 15, the health pass will be suspended for lack of a booster dose seven months after the last injection.

An announcement that caused the rush of the French to the booking platforms to get an appointment in the coming weeks. And for good reason, “18 million French people were called upon to receive a vaccine booster overnight”, Olivier Véran recalled on Wednesday. So much so that it is, for the moment, very difficult to quickly obtain a place in a center or with a liberal doctor.

Despite the scale of this campaign, the government wants to be reassuring. “The traffic jam effect is normal” and all the necessary injections can take place from here “seven to eight weeks”, estimated the Minister of Health. To avoid any “logistical difficulty”, the minister has already asked “the opening of 300 centers [de vaccination] additional “, while the government had started to close before the epidemic resumed. Olivier Véran also pleaded for “the reactivation of additional vaccination lines in existing centers.”

In addition, to encourage the 15,000 pharmacists to “stay open as much as possible on weekends”, an increase of five euros per injection carried out at the end of the week will be granted to them. The same measure will be applied for nurses who vaccinate at home, including during the week.


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