Europe 1 with AFP 11:14 a.m., April 7, 2022, modified at 11:16 a.m., April 7, 2022

“We have passed the peak of the rebound” of the Covid-19 epidemic, underlined Thursday the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, while between 140,000 and 150,000 new contaminations are recorded daily on average.

The Minister also announced the opening of the second booster dose of the vaccine to people aged 60 and over.

“We have passed the peak of the rebound” of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Minister of Health Olivier Véran took stock this Thursday morning on the epidemic in France.

In terms of contaminations, “we reached a peak in the epidemic rebound a few days ago (…) I had announced an expected peak in early April, that was the case. I had announced some 140,000, 150,000 contaminations per day in average, it is. This validates a posteriori our strategy which has allowed us to give more freedom to the French”, argued the minister on RTL radio.

“It has been down by about 5% now for five days. It must be confirmed over time, in any case we are not witnessing the tidal wave of 500,000 cases which we witnessed a few weeks ago”, a indicated Olivier Véran.

135,000 daily cases on average

“There are about 6% of people who are re-contaminated, the rest are primary contaminations”, he further specified.

Contaminations have indeed stopped rising, according to data from health authorities.

Thus, with 161,950 positive cases recorded in 24 hours by Public Health France on Wednesday, the average for the last seven days stands at nearly 135,000 cases, after having exceeded 140,000 last Friday.

>> Find all the editorial newspapers of Europe 1 in replay and podcast here

This beginning of a decline marks a break with the clear recovery observed in March, during which contamination almost tripled.

The number of daily hospital admissions increases further to more than 1,540 (averaged over seven days).

The Institut Pasteur "anticipates a plateau in the coming days" according to its projections updated on Monday.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Covid has killed 142,930 people in France.

"We will be able to open a second booster dose for French people aged 60 and over if they are six months from their last booster injection", without it becoming compulsory, the minister said on RTL radio.

Until now, this dose was reserved for people aged 80 and over, an announcement made by Prime Minister Jean Castex in mid-March in the face of the rebound of the pandemic.