COVID. The new epidemiological update from Public Health France of March 24, 2022 sounds the alarm: the progression of the circulation of SARS-Cov-2 continues throughout the territory. Update on the situation.
[Mis à jour le 25 mars 2022 à 11h08] So most of the sanitary measures have been lifted since March 14, the circulation of the coronavirus is starting up again. In any case, this is what the last one indicates. epidemiological point of Public health France, published Thursday March 24, 2022. During the week of March 14 to 20, the upward circulation of SARS-CoV-2 “continued throughout the territory”, he explains. Indicators which confirm the message transmitted by the Scientific Council in mid-March, in particular that of its press conference on March 15, the reminder of which that “the epidemic is not over” had marked the audience. However, the positive note is on the side of hospitalizations, since new hospital admissions remained stable, all services combined.
Thus, in a new “alert note” issued Friday March 11 to the government, but transmitted to the press Tuesday March 15, the Scientific Council had warned: “the epidemic is not over!” While an increase in the number of daily cases is currently observed, he evoked a multifactorial rebound. Several explanations were thus put forward – and are still relevant – such as the relaxation of the population vis-à-vis barrier gestures and hand washing, or even the start of the school year and the decline in the immunity provided by vaccines. .
During a press conference on March 15, Scientific Council had deplored that the Covid-19 epidemic had passed into the background since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. He was also worried about a “trivialization of the epidemic in society”. Two statements that seem to confirm the updated figures. In addition, in mid-March, emphasizing the importance of “maintaining protective measures in the oldest, frail and immunocompromised”, the Scientific Council proposed extending the fourth dose to elderly people between 65 and 80 years old and calls for “accelerating the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 with a medical risk factor” and to boost prescriptions for the antiviral drug Paxlovid, which limits the risk of severe form. For more information on the figures relating to the coronavirus epidemic in France, you can consult our dedicated article.
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According to last epidemiological point of Public Health France (SPF), published Thursday March 24, in week 11 – i.e. from March 14 to 20, 2022 -, “the incidence rate is on the rise in all age groups, while the “positivity rate is very high and increasing sharply”. On the other hand, it is important to note that admissions to critical care and the number of deaths are “decreasing”.
- In mainland France, the incidence rate adjusted increases in all age groups, including the oldest, in week 11 (March 14-March 20, 2022), compared to week 10. It is 937, compared to 686 on March 15, which is equivalent to an increase of 36%. Similarly, the positivity rate, of 27.1% in S11 against 23.4% in S10 takes 3.7 points, thus continuing to rise in all age groups.
- In Overseas France, the results are mixed, since in Martinique, if the incidence rate is still high, (>1,000/100,000), it is down sharply compared to previous weeks, while the high incidence rate in Reunion (>1,000) is up slightly.
- The effective reproduction rate of the virus, says R, increased in week 11, continuing the upward curve of the previous weeks. It is evaluated at 1.29 (against 1.11 in S10 and 0.81 in S09).
- The number of new hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients stagnated in H11. The indicators by date of admission showed 6,222 new hospitalizations of patients with Covid-19 in week 11, compared to 6,223 in week 10, which is substantially unchanged (the rate is incidentally at -0.0%). For new admissions in critical care, the results are even more encouraging: we go from 629 new admissions in S10 to 548 in S11, a decrease of 13%. Last but not least, the number of deaths decreased in S11, by 22% compared to S10.
- The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is still the majority in France in S10, suspected and confirmed in 99.9% of March 7 S10 Flash survey interpretable sequence screening tests (preliminary data). The BA.2 sub-lineage, sub-variant of the Omicron mutation, is still the majority and progresses very quickly: from 57% of cases in S09, it concerns 73% of cases in S10.
- Vaccination against Covid-19 is still progressing: as of March 24, 2022, 79.4% of the total population had received a complete primary vaccination and 73.1% of those aged 18 and over had received a booster dose (82.6% among eligible people) and 83.1% among people aged 65 and over (91.0% among those eligible), which remains essentially the same situation as during the last epidemiological update of March 15, 2022.
Follow the evolution of the coronavirus in your municipality thanks to the map below. Click on a department to display the list of municipalities. Also find all the details on this mapping and the complete point by city and by department in our article on the Covid map in France.
Since mid-October 2020, Public Health France has been communicating incidence data (number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants) at municipal level. The figures are at this stage communicated according to a scale (10, 20, 50, 150, 250, 500, 1000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants). The data is expressed over a rolling week, which means that it is calculated on a D-day from tests carried out between 3 and 9 days previously. To access information relating to the coronavirus in your municipality, enter its name in the search engine or click on its department in the map below.
As a reminder, the incidence rate corresponds to the number of new cases of Covid-19 over a period of one week, compared to the total population of a territory (country, region, department or municipality). This indicator is generally expressed as the number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The screening rate gives the number of people having carried out a screening test for the coronavirus out of the total number of inhabitants, during the period. It is also most often expressed per 100,000 inhabitants. Finally, the test positivity rate gives the percentage of positive tests for the coronavirus, compared to the total number of tests carried out over the period.