Céline Géraud, edited by Solène Leroux 8:16 p.m., November 23, 2021, modified at 8:16 p.m., November 23, 2021

While the World Health Organization fears 700,000 additional deaths in Europe by the spring, the figures for the epidemic in France are worrying.

There have been 30,000 new cases in the past 24 hours in France, against less than 20,000 a week ago.

Several voices are raised for an expansion of the third dose of vaccine.

DECRYPTION

We see it more and more every day.

The coronavirus epidemic in France is exploding and the counters are racing.

The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, unveiled an alarming figure in the Assembly on Tuesday afternoon, there have been 30,000 cases of Covid-19 contamination over the last 24 hours in France.

For the record, seven days ago, we were just under 20,000 new cases.

"This is a very significant increase in contaminations which attest, if it were necessary, that we are indeed, unfortunately, in a fifth epidemic wave", lamented the doctor.

"It is therefore urgent to be vaccinated and it is urgent to receive his reminder when we are called to receive his reminder," he insisted.

Six million unvaccinated François

In an attempt to contain this fifth wave, Emmanuel Macron chairs a health defense council on Wednesday. The latest figures reach a level not reached since mid-August, in the middle of the fourth wave. As a result, the incidence rate is also rising. It is now 171 to 191 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Olivier Véran recalled that six million French people are still not vaccinated, which creates a twelve times higher risk of being infected. The recall campaign could therefore be required to expand rapidly. It remains to be seen for which age group. "I have always defended a third extended dose for everyone, six months before the second dose," recalls Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist at the Raymond-Poincaré hospital.

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"Why? Because there is a loss of antibodies and if we lose them, we are more at risk of becoming contaminated. And therefore, we circulate the virus," he emphasizes.

"The person, the young parent of 40 years who is more than six months from his second dose, he risks contaminating himself and therefore contaminating his child or other adults: in short, to circulate the viruses."

The infectious disease specialist also criticizes the fact of having removed the masks too early.

"The decision to take off the masks at school in early fall was not a good decision and helped spread the virus. Today, we realize that when we let go of the pedal brake, and the car slips into the ditch, "he criticizes.

6,000 closed classes

Proof that the virus is circulating more than ever, 6,000 classes, mostly primary, are closed Tuesday, 2,000 more than last Friday.

Last April, just before schools were closed at the peak of the epidemic, that figure stood at nearly 12,000.

In the meantime, there have never been so many classes closed since the start of the 2021 school year.