Has the fourth wave of Covid-19 really started in France? The indicators are hardly encouraging and the four coastal provinces in the southwest have crossed the alert threshold
The recklessness that accompanied the gradual easing of restrictions in France during June already seems remote. On Saturday 17 July, the French public health authority announced that 10,949 people had tested positive for Covid-19 within 24 hours. The index crossed the 10,000 mark on Friday for the first time since the end of May. The delta variant, whose infection is 60% more important than previous strains, will be the main responsible for these poor numbers.
For now, that rise in cases in hospitals has not yet reversed: On Saturday, 6,922 patients were admitted, 890 to critical care services, up from 899 the day before. Can it last? Nothing less confident.
Anxiety in 21 sections
What worries the authorities is a rapid escape from indicators, such as the situation observed in the Pyrenees-Orientales, where the infection rate (number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants) rose in just seven days. of 41.5 new cases per 100,000 residents on July 9. to 258.8/100,000.
This Sunday, according to data from the health authorities, transmitted by the CovidTracker website, 21 departments in mainland France returned above the alert threshold, set at 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Apart from Ile-de-France, Val-d’Oise and Rhône, we see that the respective departments are known as tourism sectors. Many of them are located by the sea, where most vacationers are concentrated, which may not be a coincidence …
CovidTracker
Amazing progress in Charente-Maritime
In New Aquitaine, the infection rate in the four oceanic provinces is now more than 50 cases per 100,000 residents. According to CovidTracker, in Charente-Maritime it is the highest, with 74/100,000. Follow Pyrénées-Atlantiques (67/100,000), Gironde (65/100,000) and Landes (54/100,000). Inside, the numbers were much better, with infection rates of 20 in Lot-et-Garonne, 15 in Charente and 19 in Dordogne.
If the infection rate is of particular concern to the government, it is because it is increasing almost everywhere in France. In the southwest, over the past seven days, data from CovidTracker shows it has increased significantly especially in Charente-Maritime, with +516%! The increase is less impressive but no less alarming in Charente (+84.5%) and Gironde (+80.5%), while it is more measured in Lot-et-Garonne (+53.8%), in Dordogne (+46.1%), in Landes (+42.1%) and Pyrénées-Atlantiques (+21.8%).
CovidTracker
To curb this increase in cases, the government is placing high hopes on speeding up the vaccination campaign. Currently, 53.61% of the Charente population have received at least one dose, 55.29% in Lot-et-Garonne, 56.3% in the Charente, 60.01% in the Charente Maritime, 60.54% in the Gironde, 61.62% in the Landes and 63.94% in the Pyrenees-Atlantic.