Coronavirus: Olivier Véran warns of "a risky situation"

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In an interview with Journal du Dimanche, the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, is worried about a resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic and contamination from the youngest to the elderly. 

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“  We are in a risky situation  ” in the face of Covid-19 , warned the Minister of Health Olivier Véran in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche , fearing contamination from the youngest to the older and therefore more fragile people.

For more than a month, the circulation of the virus has been on the rise, especially among young people. Now, Covid-19 affects “  four times more  ”  those under 40 than those over 65. The majority of transmissions are made during festive gatherings, where barrier gestures are not respected.

The epidemic "  never stopped  "

This spread of the coronavirus makes authorities fear that it will be transmitted from young to old, who contract more severe forms of the disease. This is already the case in Bouches-du-Rhône, in the south of France, where the number of new cases in people aged 20 to 40 is high. For the past three weeks, positive tests among seniors have been increasing, as has the number of hospitalizations and admissions in intensive care.

The epidemic "  has never stopped  ", recalled Olivier Véran. "  It was only checked during the confinement and then the progressive deconfinement  ". "  The risk, he insisted, is that, after gently removing the lid of the pan, the water will boil again  ."

The Minister of Health fears a resurgence of the epidemic which “  would put our health system under strain  ”. If he rules out for the moment a new general confinement, he explains that specific measures and at the scale of the territories could be decided.

Saturday, August 23, 3,602 new positive diagnoses were recorded, according to health authorities. Thursday and Friday 4,771 and 4,586 new cases had been recorded.

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