The government is trying to calm fears around the Omicron variant. This one is “obviously more contagious, obviously not more dangerous” than the variant Delta declared Monday Olivier Véran.
The Minister of Health also considered that “the combination of the booster vaccination and the re-grasp of barrier gestures”, in particular, had already “given a favorable impetus in relation to the epidemic”. He was speaking alongside Prime Minister Jean Castex at the end of a Health Defense Council
A daily average of more than 42,000 cases
The rebound in the epidemic remains mainly due to the Delta variant, even if the detection in France of the first cases of the Omicron variant worries the health authorities. Especially since this fifth wave results in a clear deterioration of the indicators, with an average of more than 42,000 cases over seven days on Monday, against less than 7,000 a month ago. And as a consequence more than 12,000 hospitalized patients, the double of a month ago.
Olivier Véran therefore warned that if the Omicron variant “starts to circulate a lot, we would have even more significant contaminations than with the current variant, which means that, proportionally, we would end up having many serious forms” . The health authorities thus do not want “a wave in a wave”, continued the minister, “so we slow down this variant, we prevent it from spreading wherever it appears on the territory, we do” contact tracing ” , we isolate, we make bubbles (…) we save time ”. Twenty-five cases are now confirmed in the territory, according to the latest official report from the health authorities.