In France, the course has passed; in Japan, the wave is just beginning. While the number of cases continues to decrease in France, offering a welcome respite to hospital services, on the other side of the world, Japan is facing an explosion of contaminations, generated by the BA.5 sub-variant, more contagious. We take stock of the latest information around the pandemic.
- 56,214 new infections in France
The epidemic continues to decline in France. According to the latest records of SI-DEP, the Public Health France epidemic monitoring tool, 56,214 new cases of Covid-19 were identified on Saturday on national territory. Average infections this week are down 26% from last week. 1,195 people with Covid-19 are currently in critical care; 1076 positive people have been admitted to hospital in the past 24 hours. The number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 is peaking at 20,214 this week.
Although these figures reflect a positive evolution of the pandemic in France, and while the government got rid of the state of health emergency, Sars-Cov-2 did not become trivial. “There will be new waves, in the fall, during the winter of 2022-2023, we are not done with the Covid-19”, warned Jean-François Delfraissy, the president of the Scientific Council, who draws his bow this Monday. According to him, “the virus remains present with an ability to mutate, to change, it has not finished its evolution and this is what explains the particular duration of this Covid crisis”.
- Japan threatened by a seventh wave of unprecedented magnitude
Never had the rise been so dazzling, nor the number of cases so high. Japan is facing a seventh wave of unprecedented magnitude, so much so that the country is considering imposing new health restrictions. “We are trying to come up with a series of measures to deal with BA.5,” said Daishiro Yamagiwa, the minister in charge of the fight against Covid-19. This more contagious sub-variant of Omicron is responsible for almost all of the 221,442 cases detected as of July 29.
The departmental authorities can now limit the hours of bars and restaurants and push the use of teleworking, to prevent hospitals from overflowing, while the bed occupancy threshold exceeds 50% in 20 of the 47 departments of the country. The epidemic is mainly fueled by those under 30, who have received fewer booster doses than the rest of the population.
- Portugal will remain hidden until the end of August
The Portuguese government decided on Thursday to maintain the wearing of a mask compulsory in public transport at least until the end of August, to protect the populations most vulnerable to Covid-19. Portugal, among the world champions in vaccination against the virus, had seen a marked increase in new cases last May, caused by the Omicron BA.5 sub-variant. The wave began to recede in mid-June, and contamination returned to an acceptable level. But the Portuguese authorities prefer to remain cautious.
- Joe Biden positive again
The 79-year-old US president “tested positive late Saturday morning according to an antigen test” and “will resume strict containment measures”, said his doctor, Dr Kevin O’Connor. He had been positive for the first time on July 21, with “very mild symptoms”, then came out of his confinement on Wednesday, because negative. According to his doctor, it would be a “rebound” of positivity, which sometimes occurs in people treated with Paxlovid, the anti-Covid pill from Pfizer which treated Joe Biden.
- Loss of taste and smell, a persistent symptom in 5% of patients
Some 5% of people with Covid-19 experience a lasting disturbance of their sense of smell or taste, estimates a large study published on Thursday. “A significant proportion of patients with Covid-19 seem to develop a lasting change in their sense of taste or smell”, conclude the authors of this work published in one of the main scientific journals, the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The BMJ study compiled around 20 previous works, which represent a total of more than 3,500 patients. It is based on the declarations of the patients, and not on the results of tests aiming to measure the loss of taste. Women seem to be more affected than men. It is still largely unknown how long this emblematic symptom of the disease can persist.