The number of new daily cases of Covid-19 jumped by 18,181 according to figures published on Tuesday by Public Health France, an unprecedented increase linked to the Delta variant, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran was worried earlier.
The vast majority of these new cases being due to this Delta variant, which is more contagious, the test positivity rate also logically increases: it is 2.6% (over seven days on D-3), against 2.3% the day before.
“We have never known this”
Monday, the health agency had reported 4,151 cases detected in 24 hours, a figure still falling at the end of the weekend, and 12,532 new cases on Sunday. A week ago, Tuesday July 13, the number of new contaminations was 6,950.
Earlier Tuesday, the Minister of Health was alarmed by this strong increase in front of the deputies. Noting “an increase in the circulation of the virus of the order of 150% over a week”, he stressed that “we have never known this, neither with the Covid (the historical strain of the virus), nor with the variant English, neither with South African nor with Brazilian ”.
Mortality on Monday is 33 dead in 24 hours (compared to 20 on Monday), bringing the total of deaths to 111,554 since the start of the epidemic. The pressure on the hospital remains moderate with the figures slightly down. In total, 6,912 people are hospitalized in France because of Covid-19, against 7,041 on Monday, with 327 new admissions in 24 hours. The trend is the same in critical care services that treat the most serious cases: they have 876 patients (902 on Monday), with 61 new admissions.
On the vaccination side, on which doctors and public authorities rely to avoid too much pressure from this “fourth wave” on hospital services, 38,184,499 people, or 56.6% of the population, received at least one injection and 31,310,025 are fully vaccinated, or 46.4% of the population, according to the latest official figures on Tuesday.