Coronavirus: 5,053 people in intensive care in France – AFP
It is one of the heaviest balance sheets in Europe. Since the start of the coronavirus epidemic, 99,805 deaths have been recorded in France, according to
figures from Public Health France, published on Wednesday, who estimates that the 100,000 dead mark should be exceeded on Thursday.
By crossing this symbolic bar, France joins Great Britain (127,000 dead) and Italy (115,000 dead) in Europe, but other countries (Belgium, Portugal) have a higher mortality per inhabitant.
“The third wave is not behind us”
“All our forces are thrown into the battle against the epidemic (…) but will obviously come this moment of tribute and mourning for the Nation”, assured the government spokesman Gabriel Attal on Wednesday. Despite the violence of the first wave (nearly 30,000 deaths between mid-March and mid-May 2020), the vast majority of deaths have occurred since the end of October (around 65,000), the consequence of a second wave that never happened. failed, then a new strong epidemic recovery during the winter, carried by the more contagious English variant of the coronavirus.
And if the massive vaccination in nursing homes has borne fruit, nearly 300 deaths are added every day in the hospital in April. With more than 5,900 Covid-19 patients treated in intensive care units, the highest since spring 2020, “the third wave is not behind us,” warned Gabriel Attal. “The peak of hospitalizations has not yet been reached, which means that we still have very difficult days ahead of us,” he added.