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Covid cases rise as French MPs agree to extend health pass

As French MPs agreed to the extension of health pass legislation until July 2022, the country has reported a slight but sustained rise in the number of Covid cases.

Published: 19 October 2021 12:26 CEST
Updated: 21 October 2021 09:37 CEST

Covid cases in France are showing a slight rise. Photo: Theo Ruby/AFP

MPs in the Assemblée nationale on Wednesday agreed to the extension of health pass legislation.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the pass itself will be in use until then – there is already discussion on phasing it out by area or by sector from November – but that it could be reintroduced without further parliamentary debate if needed.

The debate in the Assemblée nationale came as France reported a slight but sustained rise in case numbers, after two months of steadily falling cases.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal, speaking on RTL radio, urged caution, saying that the virus was “once again gaining ground”.

📻🗣️🦠 Coronavirus : "L’épidémie recommence à gagner du terrain (…) Il faut être vigilant", indique @GabrielAttal dans #RTLMatin avec @VenturaAlba ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/L7d70vXQaz

— RTL France (@RTLFrance) October 19, 2021

“For several weeks, the situation has improved significantly in our country, thanks to the efforts of the French, the deployment of vaccination,” he said. “But what we’re seeing is that for a little less than a week, the trend seems to have reversed and the epidemic is regaining ground.”

He qualified that the increase was low and that it was too early to speculate on whether this is the beginning of a fifth wave.

Case numbers in France had for two months been showing a steady decrease, with a corresponding decrease in hospital admissions and deaths – the latest data shows a daily average of 4,649 new cases a day, with 1,049 Covid patients in intensive care and 41 deaths in the 24 hours preceding October 18th.

Graph showing positive tests recorded in France from August 2021 to October. Graph: covidtracker.fr

However the last week has shown a slight but steady increase, with a daily average of cases up 10 percent on the previous week.

Le taux d'incidence tous âges confondus en France est de 48,4, versus 48,5 hier.

⚠️La dernière valeur va jusqu'au vendredi, premier jour de tests payants pour les non vaccinés. Elle est donc sans doute sous-estimée par rapport à ce qu'elle aurait été sans cette mesure.

1/5 ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/rMsytjQtGH

— Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) October 18, 2021

The graph above, from Le Parisien journalist Nicolas Berrod, shows the incidence rate – cases per 100,000 people – from March to October 2021, with cases falling in June, spiking again over the summer as the delta variant hit, and then falling from August – as the health pass was introduced and widespread vaccination took effect.

The majority of areas of France still have an incidence rate of below 50 cases, per 100,000 people – as the map below shows – but this week the département of Lozère was forced to reinstate mask-wearing in primary schools after its incidence rate rose above 50. Experts have cautioned, however, that the sparsely-populated nature of Lozère can mean that a slight increase in case numbers can dramatically affect the incidence rate.

Incidence rate by département, with départements in green under 50 cases per 100,000. Map: Covidtracker.fr

As well as looking to extend the period that the health pass is in use, France has also begun its booster campaign for vaccines amid increasing evidence that the effectiveness of Covid vaccines wanes over time.

People in high risk groups such as the elderly or ill can now get a booster shot six months after their last dose – meaning that anyone in a high risk group vaccinated before mid April is now eligible for a booster.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.