Research director at Inserm, Vittoria Colizza is in favor of the introduction of new restrictions to avoid an outbreak of the epidemic in the coming weeks.

On Europe 1, Wednesday evening, the specialist said to fear an exit from the epidemic plateau in which France is today.

INTERVIEW

Will the French soon see the end of the tunnel?

On Wednesday noon, the government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, estimated that the population could perhaps return to a "more normal" life around "mid-April".

A prospect that questions, while the level of circulation of the coronavirus is still on a very high plateau in France.

And the epidemic pressure could further increase in the future if new measures are not taken soon, anticipates Wednesday on Europe 1 Vittoria Colizza, director of research at Inserm.

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One thing is certain: the containment of the fall and the curfew of the winter have "worked to reduce the dynamics of the historic strain" for a few months, says the specialist.

But, at the same time, the British, South African and Brazilian variants continued to progress very rapidly in the territory.

Hospital pressure still strong

This explains the plateau on which France is located today: daily contaminations, with an average over one week, have fluctuated since mid-February between 20,000 and 25,000 cases per day.

Hospital pressure remains strong, with more than 3,500 patients in intensive care and more than 25,000 hospitalized patients in total.

"We have very little room for improvement in this context," laments the guest at Europe Soir.

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We will target the territories where they no longer need the restrictions

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"With time", warns Vittoria Colizza, "we will get out of this balance".

According to the research director at Inserm, this would unfortunately mean a deterioration in the indicators of the epidemic, and not an improvement in the weeks to come.

From this perspective, "to stay on this plateau which is still a very high plateau, it will be necessary to add other measures over time", she emphasizes.

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The "key point" of vaccination

This is the meaning of the restrictions adopted in Nice and Dunkirk, with other departments under the threat of similar containment at the weekend.

These territorialized measures could have a beneficial effect, assures the specialist.

"We will target the territories where they need more restrictions and" we can consider having a stronger support "of the population to these measures, pledge of an epidemic decline.

In all cases, the evolution of the epidemic in France "will depend on the measures we will take" to fight against its spread.

"Vaccination will be a key point, even if it is not yet capable of bending the curve of the epidemic", concludes Vittoria Colizza.