Will she be invited to our end-of-year celebrations for the fourth time in a row? For several weeks, the Covid-19 epidemic has been on the rise again. So much so that this Wednesday, December 13, the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, called for “a rebound in vaccination” against the flagship viruses of winter – Covid-19 and the flu – to “have a good holiday ” and so that “hospitals are not overwhelmed”.
The vaccination campaign was officially launched at the beginning of October. Since then, 25.6% of people aged 65 and over have received a booster vaccination against Covid-19, according to the latest bulletin from Public Health France.
“We need a rebound in vaccination. We have crossed 10 million for the flu and […] the 5 million on Covid. We are still ahead compared to last year’s figures on Covid, we need to catch up a little on [la vaccination contre] influenza. And this is the right time to do it,” insisted the Minister of Health during a trip to a pharmacy in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
34,889 new cases of Covid
Emergency or simple prevention, with the end of year celebrations and numerous family reunions approaching? Between December 4 and 10, 34,889 new cases were declared by medical biology laboratories (compared to 28,437 the previous week), i.e. an incidence rate of 51 per 100,000 inhabitants.
“This upward trend in indicators was observed in most age groups, with the incidence and positivity rates being lowest among those under 20,” specifies Public Health France. The institute attributes this increase to JN.1, a sub-variant of Omicron. Since November, health authorities have estimated that this variant is gaining ground in France and that it could become the majority.
Wastewater monitoring
At the same time, the share of Covid-19 or suspicion of this virus among visits to the emergency room continued to increase among those aged 65 and over, with 1,889 hospitalizations, or 5.3% (compared to 4.4% the previous week ).
Furthermore, in its latest bulletin, Public Health France warns of the “increasing trend” which continues in wastewater. This device, called SUM’EAU in France, is intended to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater in order to follow the progression of the virus in the population.