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COVID-19

IN NUMBERS: Cases, hospitalisations and deaths in France’s fifth wave of Covid-19

While the incidence rate of Covid-19 in France is significantly lower than in neighbouring countries, a rise in cases prompted Health Minister Olivier Véran to declare that France has entered a fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic. We take a look at the numbers.

Published: 11 November 2021 15:13 CET
IN NUMBERS: Cases, hospitalisations and deaths in France's fifth wave of Covid-19
A nurse takes care of a patient infected with Covid-19 in the intensive care unit of Lyon-Sud hospital in Pierre-Benite, on September 8th, 2021. Photo: Jeff Pachoud/ AFP

“Several neighbouring countries are already in a fifth wave of the Covid epidemic, what we are experiencing in France clearly looks like the beginning of a fifth wave,” Véran said in an interview on TF1, adding that the circulation of the virus was accelerating.

However, the health minister said he remained optimistic thanks to the “mass vaccination” of French citizens. “The big difference is that there has been a mass vaccination, because we have the health pass, we respect social distancing measures, so we can overcome this wave like we did the fourth wave, with few ill people in hospital and few deaths,” he said.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, French president Emmanuel Macron announced an expansion of France’s vaccine booster shot programme and made boosters a requirement for a health pass for the over-65s.

From December 15th, the health pass will cease to be valid for over-65s who are eligible for the booster shot but have not had it.

Macron: French Covid health pass for over-65s to depend on booster jab

The president also issued a call to the roughly 6 million unvaccinated French people to get the vaccine, saying: “Vaccinate yourselves to protect yourselves. Vaccinate yourselves to be able to live normally.”

Rising case numbers

The health ministry registered 11,883 new cases on Wednesday, November 10th, the second day in a row that new case numbers surpassed 10,000.

However, this is significantly lower than in the UK and Germany, which have recorded more than 30,000 new cases per day.

Incidence rate

The current national positivity rate, according to the Covidtracker website run by French data scientist Guillaume Rozier, is at 2.89 percent and the R-rate is at 1.13, which means the virus is spreading again, rather than being in retreat as it was when that figure was below 1.

The national number of cases per 100,000 people currently stands at 76, with cases spread out pretty evenly across the country, as this map below shows.

Source: CovidTracker

The incidence rate is expected to rise sharply in the next few days to reach 90 cases per 100,000 people, as shown in the following graph.

Hospitalisations

But with 75 percent of the French population now fully vaccinated, how do increasing case numbers affect hospitals?

The number of hospital admissions had been falling since the end of August, but began to rise again around two weeks ago. 

According to CovidTracker, 321 people have been admitted to hospital for Covid-19 in the past week, while 79 were admitted to intensive care units – representing a 25 percent increase compared to last week.

Deaths

An average of 35 daily Covid-19 deaths (in hospitals) are currently being recorded each week, representing a 15 percent rise compared to week, according to CovidTracker.

The number of deaths had been steadily falling since a spike on August 24th, when 117 were recorded in a single day.

France’s total death toll since the start of the pandemic stands at 118,023.

READ ALSO: Europe could see 500,000 more Covid deaths by early 2022, WHO warns

Vaccinations

Demand in Covid booster jabs jumped in France after Macron said a top-up dose would be necessary for people to retain their vaccine passes, the country’s main appointment booking site, Doctolib, said on Wednesday.

“The Macron effect” prompted 149,000 requests for shots, most during and immediately after the president’s televised address on Tuesday evening, Doctolib said.

Anticipation of tougher rules had already sparked 96,000 bookings on Monday, compared with an average of 50,000 a day in recent weeks.

France has one of the strictest vaccination regimes in Europe, with the passes required to take intercity trains, visit museums and go to gyms, among other amenities.

READ ALSO: France reimposes mask rules in 39 areas as Covid cases rise

That has pushed France’s overall vaccination rate to 75 percent, a level relatively unchanged in recent weeks.

Doctolib said only 20,000 of the Tuesday bookings were for first-time vaccinations.

In his speech Macron urged the roughly six million people in France yet to get even a first jab to do so.

He also said face masks will again be mandatory for all schoolchildren in a bid to avoid a new wave of cases.

The government is also currently weighing making vaccines available to children under 12.

READ ALSO: How unvaccinated people can use France’s health passport

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HEALTH

New Covid-19 variant on the rebound in France

French health authorities have noted an increase in hospital visits likely connected to Covid-19 as a new variant makes its away around France.

Published: 10 August 2023 10:06 CEST
New Covid-19 variant on the rebound in France

Covid-19 has been making a comeback in France since the end of July, via the new ‘Eris’ variant, or EG-5 strain, which has been connected to over a third (35 percent) of cases of the virus sequenced in France recently.

The variant is also spreading in Italy, the UK and the United States, and the World Health Organisation has announced that it is “closely monitoring the situation”.

Santé Publique France said on August 1st in their weekly bulletin that they had recorded a 26 percent increase in emergency room visits for suspected Covid-19 infection during the week of July 24th to 30th in comparison to the week previous.

This was particularly pronounced for older people, but “spanned age categories”.

Experts have said that ‘Eris’ is highly contagious – one professor at the University of Montpellier, Mircea Sofonea, told Le Figaro that the new strain is “more efficient in terms of transmission and […] is also more efficient in terms of immune escape”.

Nevertheless, Sofonea noted that the variant could be gaining ground simply due to a “natural immune decline in the general population”. 

The professor also told Le Figaro that there is no data indicating that this variation or its symptoms are particularly severe.

Similar to Omicron variants, symptoms such as cough, high fever, and runny nose remain common.

Epidemiologist Antoine Flahaul told Actu France that “there are no particularly worrying characteristics with this new variant”, but advised that people still exercise caution.

Notably, there was an upturn in cases following the annual Fêtes de Bayonne in French Basque country, which attracted over 1.3 million people. Sébastien Boucher, head of Axbio laboratories in the area told France Bleu that his centres recorded a 20 percent positivity rate in test before the festival, and a 35 percent rate afterwards in the area around Bayonne. 

Local media reported that pharmacies ran out of self-tests at the start of the festival, and that testing appointments increased significantly amid the Fête.

In February, the French government dropped the requirement to isolate after a positive Covid-19 test result, but health experts still recommend protective steps such as avoiding contact with immune-compromised people and informing those you were in contact with while contagious.

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