Europe 1 with AFP 11:43 am, December 22, 2021

The number of contaminations should exceed 100,000 per day in France by the end of December due to the very high contagiousness of the new Omicron variant, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran warned on Wednesday. "This is what is expected by the models," said the minister, while more than 70,000 cases were identified on Tuesday.

The number of contaminations should exceed 100,000 per day in France by the end of December due to the very high contagiousness of the new Omicron variant, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran warned on Wednesday.

"We will very likely exceed 100,000 contaminations per day by the end of the month. This is what is expected by the models," said the minister during an interview on BFMTV-RMC.

The latest figures, published Tuesday evening by Public Health France, show 72,832 new cases in 24 hours.

Over the past seven days, the daily average has climbed to 54,231 daily cases.

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The variant "arrives at the same time everywhere on the planet"

"This variant is so new and so contagious that unlike the other variants (...), which had time to circulate abroad two or three months before arriving here, there it is multiplying at such a speed that 'it happens all over the planet at the same time, "said Olivier Véran.

The proportion of contamination linked to the Omicron variant is currently 20% in France and "probably 30 or 35% in Ile-de-France", he estimated.

The variant should be in the majority in the total number of cases of contamination, "between Christmas and New Year," he added.

No country spared, alert Olivier Véran

"There is certainty: (Omicron) is very contagious, it will circulate and no country is going to be spared."

However, "where it circulates a lot, for the moment, it does not lead to waves of hospitalizations", specified the minister.

"Another certainty is that it is sensitive to the vaccine," said Olivier Véran, who on Wednesday opened vaccination to children (volunteers) between 5 and 11 years old.

France had 16,076 hospitalized Covid-19 patients on Tuesday.

The critical care services, where the most seriously ill patients are treated, had 3,096 patients, including 357 new admissions within 24 hours.

The threshold of 3,000 patients in critical care was crossed on Monday, the highest level reached since May.