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COVID-19 STATS

France sets new daily Covid infections record

France set a new daily coronavirus infections record on Friday, registering 94,124 cases over 24 hours, the highest figure since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Published: 25 December 2021 08:43 CET
People wait to be tested for Covid at a mobile unit in Paris
People wait to be tested for Covid at a mobile unit in Paris on December 23rd, 2021. The number of daily Covid-19 cases in France is set to exceed 100,000 by the end of December due to the faster-spreading Omicron variant, France's Health Minister has said. STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

It marked the second day in a row that infections climbed to record highs.

The numbers are likely to climb further, fuelled by the super-contagious Omicron variant and the Christmas holiday season, when schools are closed and families gather.

READ ALSO: France fears over 100,000 daily Covid cases by the end of the year

Some 16,173 people are currently hospitalised for Covid-19 in the country, with 3,254 of them in emergency care.

Around 122,462 people have died of Covid-19 in France since the start of the pandemic.

Some 76.5 percent of the population have received two vaccine doses, and nearly 21 million people in a country of 67.4 million residents have received a booster shot.

On Friday, health authority recommended that adults receive a booster jab three months after their initial vaccination.

READ ALSO: France recommends Covid booster jab 3 months after initial vaccines

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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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