Caregivers in the intensive care unit of Antoine Beclere hospital in Clamart, near Paris, December 23, 2021 (AFP / GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT)
A few hours before Christmas Eve, the Covid-19 is once again playing the spoiler. A dazzling Omicron variant and the record number of contaminations are pushing the government to speed up its response.
Emmanuel Macron will hold a health defense council on Monday afternoon, just before the Council of Ministers which must adopt the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass, announced the Elysee.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Wednesday that a “reassessment of the health situation” was scheduled for that date, while the arrival of Omicron panics the figures of
contamination
all over Europe.
Friday, more than 94,000 new cases were recorded over the last 24 hours, unheard of in France since the start of the health crisis.
Before reuniting with their loved ones for Christmas, the French have tested themselves massively in recent days. The SI-DEP platform allowing health professionals to enter the results of antigenic tests to generate a QR code has consequently been blocked.
It was “very complicated to declare” results Friday afternoon, told AFP Philippe Gaertner of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF), Philippe Gaertner, while Gilles Bonnefond, of the Union syndicale des pharmaciens dispensary (USPO) reported “30 minutes of interruption related to the record of tests.”
Recognizing “slowdowns” on the platform due to a “massive influx” of tests, the Ministry of Health nevertheless assured that it had “always been maintained” and that “the answers are coming as they go.”
The epidemic started with a bang for several weeks, and has now taken on the face of the Omicron variant, and the government expects it to become the majority in the country soon, between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Evolution in France of the number of new cases, hospitalizations, admissions to critical care and deaths, totals and trends for these four indicators, as of 23 December (AFP /)
If several studies show that the effectiveness of vaccines is markedly reduced with only two doses against this variant, a booster dose would make it possible to increase the level of protection.
The High Authority for Health (HAS) thus recommended Friday that the booster dose can be performed from three months for the eligible population.
– Paralysis –
While waiting to examine this opinion, the Ministry of Health has announced that the deadline will be reduced to 4 months from now and not from January 3 as initially planned.
Evolution of the incidence (number of cases over 7 sliding days per 100,000 inhabitants) in the departments of Île-de-France, between January 1 and December 20, 2021 (AFP /)
Until then it was 5 months after the previous injection.
With this passage to 4 months, 40 million people are eligible for their booster dose, 22 million of whom have already done so, the ministry said.
In its opinion, the Haute Autorité de santé is also now recommending the administration of a booster dose in 12-17 year olds suffering from immunodeficiency or a serious risk comorbidity.
While Omicron is not causing a wave of hospitalizations for the moment, its potential repercussions are worrying.
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran in the courtyard of the Elysée Palace, December 22, 2021 in Paris (AFP / Ludovic MARIN)
“The realistic scenario is that in mid-January we will be at 200,000 contaminations a day,” infectious disease specialist Benjamin Davido estimated on CNews on Friday.
With the risk, mentioned Thursday by the Scientific Council, of a paralysis of the company because of an increase in work stoppages and “absenteeism”.
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran indicated Thursday that the government would take care to “avoid any phenomenon of paralysis in the country”.
– No accumulation for a coffee –
“If you are evicting (all positive cases and contact cases) in the school system, the police, the hospital, (the company) will be at a standstill,” Gilles Pialoux, head of the service department, warned on Friday. infectious diseases of Tenon hospital on BFMTV.
People wait to be tested for Covid-19 on December 23, 2021 in Paris (AFP / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)
In the meantime, the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass will be examined in committee at the National Assembly on Wednesday and must come into force on January 15.
This text has raised concerns and criticism on social networks, in particular about a provision on a possible “accumulation of supporting documents”.
The intention is absolutely not to require a vaccine pass plus a test to go have a coffee, wanted to reassure a ministerial source at AFP and the LREM president of the Law Commission Yaël Braun-Pivet on Friday.
On the other hand, a negative PCR or antigen test of less than 24 hours will be compulsory from Tuesday for all passengers, vaccinated or not, going to French overseas territories from both mainland and abroad.
bur-ito-chl / lum / pb