“Across the country, we have exceeded the peak of contamination (…) We are reaching the peak of hospitalizations”, declared Olivier Véran on BFMTV. “We did the hardest part in this wave”.
In addition, the Minister of Health affirmed that a third of the 32,700 patients currently in hospital with a Covid diagnosis were not there because of the Covid but for another reason. For “one in three patients” counted among those hospitalized, “his hospitalization has nothing to do” with the Covid, he added.
“At least one in two French people has had the Covid”
According to Olivier Véran, “at least one in two French people” has had Covid since the start of the epidemic, which started almost two years ago. Regarding contamination by the Omicron variant, less dangerous than the previous variant but infinitely more contagious, the minister mentioned a figure of 15 million people affected.
Currently, 32,720 patients are in hospital with a Covid diagnosis (including 3,230 admissions in the last twenty-four hours) against 32,894 on Tuesday and 30,624 a week ago, according to figures published Wednesday evening by Public Health France. Critical care services received 3,700 patients (including 366 admissions) against 3,751 on Tuesday and 3,712 a week ago.
The number of new cases stood at 315,363. On average over seven days, 306,076 cases have been recorded against 365,130 a week ago.