While the protocols against the Covid-19 pandemic have been lightened since last Monday, positive cases are starting again. “What the models of the Institut Pasteur tell us is thatindeed it will go up until the end of March, we risk reaching 120,000 / 150,000 contaminations per day, and then we expect a decrease”agrees Olivier Véran, guest of franceinfo Wednesday, March 16. However, the Minister of Health affirms that“there is no risk of hospital saturation”.
By lifting most of the restrictions on Monday, the government has “made the right decision”said the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, even if France, at present, is facing an epidemic rebound.
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“We knew there would be a risk of a rebound, we can see it, he is not French by the way”he explained. “If you ask me the question whether there was a correlation between the fact that we lifted restrictions and the epidemic rebound, I would say to you ‘look at Germany, look at italy !'”, he launched. These two countries, neighbors of France, “are experiencing an epidemic rebound while they have maintained the health pass and sometimes the vaccination pass” and “that they have kept wearing a mask in closed places. In Italy it is even the FFP2 which is compulsory in shops!”, ironically Olivier Véran.
The Minister of Health also assures that he “there is no new dangerous variant circulating today”. Corn Olivier Véran specifies that government and health authorities “encourage fragile people to continue to wear the mask”. “There is a movement of general relaxation, we must not hide”, he acknowledged. “If we were to find that among the 65-80 year olds, the incidence rate were to rise, that the rebound would not last two weeks but three or four weeks, we would ask ourselves the question again” to open the second booster dose to this category of the population, as suggested by the Scientific Council. At this stage, this second booster dose is only open to people over 80 and residents of nursing homes.
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Asked about the number of French people who suffer from a long Covid, he indicated that they are “several tens of thousands, perhaps 60 to 70,000”. “95% of requests for recognition of long-term illness” for a long Covid “are accepted by health insurance”, he assured.