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France reports new record of 41,622 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours

France registered a record 41,622 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours on Thursday as the health situation continues to deteriorate with authorities extending a curfew to two-thirds of the population.

Published: 22 October 2020 20:01 CEST

France reports new record of 41,622 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours

Photo: AFP

The country's public health agency also reported 165 new deaths linked to Covid-19.

The French Prime Minister Jean Castex earlier on Thursday evening announced that the 9pm curfew would be extended to cover a total of 54 départements – roughly half the country.

Around 46 million people will be living under curfew by Saturday.

READ ALSO France extends curfew as Covid-19 situation worsens

France is now testing around 1.3 million people a week with its expanded testing programme, but the percentage of people testing positive for the virus showed another alarming lurch upwards, now standing at 14.3 percent.

The situation in the country's hospitals is also giving cause for concern, with 10,166 people now in hospital with the virus, 1,672 of whom are sick enough to require intensive care.

Medics in several regions, including Paris, have sounded the alarm about intensive care occupancy, which has been growing rapidly in recent days.

Earlier on Thursday public health agency Santé Publique France published a series of maps showing where in the country the virus is spreading quickest.

READ ALSO MAP Where in France is Covid-19 spreading fastest?

In total 7,588 towns and cities are now recording an incidence rate of more than 250 cases per 100,000. The national incidence rate is 251.1, albeit with large regional variations between rural and sparsely populated areas such as Corrèze and Lozère, which are still reporting few cases, and the big cities on 'maximum alert' level.

A record seems to have been set in Roubaix, one of France's poorest towns located in the north of the country close to Lille, which reported an incidence rate of 1,135 on Tuesday – more than four times the national average. Sometimes lags in the collection of data leads to a sudden rise in numbers, so spikes like these must always be interpreted with caution.

Generally speaking, however, the situation has been deteriorating in Roubaix lately and the city has recorded 33 Covid-19 fatalities in October.

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The different ways you can make a doctor's appointment in France

You do not need a carte vitale to book a doctor’s appointment in France – anyone who needs medical help while in the country is entitled to it, but you may not be entitled to any reimbursement if you are not part of the social security system.

Booking a GP’s appointment can be as simple as phoning up your friendly neighbourhood GP, or using an online service such as Doctolib.

It helps a lot, if you have a médecin traitant – an attending GP, who adds you (and your family, if they can) to their list of patients.

READ ALSO Explained: How to register with a doctor in France

It is not always easy to find one. Some parts of the country are short of GPs, which means doctors’ lists can fill up very quickly. But it is important that anyone who lives in France is registered with a named GP, especially if they have a carte vitale.

As well as being the main point of contact between patients and the medical profession in all its guises, it is financially responsible to be registered with a GP in France.

Reimbursement on consultations is typically 70 percent through the French healthcare system, but just 30 percent for anyone without a declared doctor. Meanwhile, top-up mutuelle health insurance companies usually require you to declare a médecin traitant and if you don’t, you may not be able to receive reimbursements on certain treatments.

Bear in mind, it is your responsibility to register with a local médecin traitant. But, even after you have done so, you can still make an appointment with any doctor, anywhere in France, and arrange specialist treatment, if you need it.

READ ALSO 5 things to know about visiting a doctor in France

How do you go about making a GP appointment in France?

There are several options.

Some health centres – more often in larger towns and cities – operate a walk-in policy. But expect waits to be lengthy. Do not, however, assume that your GP operates a system like this.

You can phone for an appointment. This is another very common method. Your GP will have their own system for making appointments – which may even include something that looks, to the uninitiated, very much like a casual walk-in policy.

Some may have an assistant to deal with booking appointments and other administration. Others may deal with appointments themselves, and may – for example – operate some sort of triage system based on voice messages from patients.

What about online booking systems?

And many practitioners are now attached to websites, such as Doctolib. As of 2023, about half of all GP appointments in France were made using Doctolib.

READ ALSO How to use: French medical website Doctolib

Be aware that other online booking systems are available. Doctolib is one of the best known, but your GP may be attached to another system, like the health ministry approved site ‘LeMedecin.Fr’.

This website also has a feature where you can take an immediate online consultation with whatever doctor is available at that moment. By clicking ‘Consultez en vidéo maintenant’ you will be connected to the next doctor who is free. This option may involve an additional charge between €5-10 on top of the price of the consultation, and you will be expected to pay when booking.

If you have any trouble with either of these websites, you can go through the list of registered generalists per département on the ‘Ameli’ website. If you use this option, you will need to call the doctor to see if they are open or available for appointments.

In terms of wait times, online systems have helped to significantly reduce the delay between booking and getting an appointment.

According to a 2023 study by Doctolib, about half of all GP appointments were available within three days from the time of booking on their platform.

Similarly, you can use online platforms to check the medical professional’s qualifications and languages spoken, as well as filter based on the doctor’s English abilities. However, this should be taken with a grain of salt because not every medical professional with English listed on their Doctolib page speaks fluent English.

An increasing number of doctorsoffer video consultations, known as télémédecine in France. This allows professionals – particularly those in more rural areas – to diagnose less serious conditions remotely. This type of consultation is usually only available from those medical practices that are attached to online booking systems.

Some pharmacies have also begun offering walk-in télémedicine consults, using ‘Medadom’ machines. More information here.

What about specialists?

In France, you book your own consultations with specialists, even if you are referred by a doctor (your GP may offer a recommendation, but won’t always). The good news is that many specialists do use online booking services. Those that do not usually have assistants to take care of the appointments.

READ ALSO: Urgent care: How to get non-emergency medical treatment in France

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