Covid-19: indicators continue to deteriorate in France

The Directorate General of Health (DGS) is sounding the alarm in the torpor of August. "The situation is worrying: all the indicators continue to increase and the transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus is increasing," said the DGS in a weekly bulletin published on Thursday 13 August.

Main cause for concern, the number of new confirmed cases "is increasing regularly", she notes. Over the past 24 hours, 2,669 new cases have been detected, notes the DGS in its new daily report. And the increase in cases, between August 3 and 9, "is more important among 15-44 years (+ 46%) in metropolitan France", according to its weekly report.

We have to go back to April 27 to find a trace of a more severe increase in cases over one day. And after the 2,524 additional cases recorded on Wednesday, the situation remains at levels not reached since the gradual lifting of containment on May 11.

🗞 Press release | Situation update #Coronavirus of Thursday, August 13, 2020
• 30,388 people have died in France
• 83,663 people have returned home
• 4,864 people are hospitalized
• 374 # COVID19 serious patients in intensive care

Fewer cases in Mayenne, but more in neighboring Sarthe

Defeating a preconceived idea, the DGS underlines a "number of people hospitalized in increase for three weeks especially among those under 40" in metropolitan France, in this weekly note.

The rate of positive cases is declining in some areas at the center of concerns in July, such as Guyana, where it rose to 122 per 100,000 inhabitants last week against 155 in the previous seven days. But in Guyana and Mayotte, if the epidemic is "on the decline", it remains "still at a high level of vulnerability". And if the rates of positive cases are decreasing in Mayenne, they are increasing in neighboring Sarthe.

As for hospitalizations, on the other hand, the statistics continue to decline overall. France has 4,864 patients with a Covid-19 infection in its hospitals on Thursday against 4,891 on Wednesday, or 27 fewer patients in 24 hours.

In intensive care, the number of patients suffering from a severe form of the disease also fell, to 374 occupied beds, or five less than the day before and a level substantially equivalent to the situation on July 31 (there were then 371 occupied beds in the resuscitation services of French hospitals). The Directorate General of Health notes, however, that new hospital admissions (+201 in one day) and intensive care (+25) are on the rise.

If we take a look at the resuscitation map, Île-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France and Grand Est account for 69% of the patients concerned. The death toll amounts to a total of 30,388 people in France (i.e. 17 more in 24 hours).

Gendarmes and Saint-Tropez affected

Behind all these figures, the news reminds us that the virus can spread everywhere. Fifty gendarmes from Tarbes, returning from a mission in Polynesia, tested positive for Covid-19, we learned Thursday from the Hautes-Pyrénées prefecture. One of these gendarmes was hospitalized.

Cases have also been reported in a detention center in Seine-et-Marne, but also among employees of a Fnac store in Paris and at Galeries Lafayette.

And in Saint-Tropez, after the party, it's a hangover. The Sénéquier café, a world famous emblem, announced Thursday to close for two weeks due to two cases of Covid-19 among its employees, a few days after the curtain was lowered by other establishments in Saint-Trop '.

Since this week, the medical and political spheres have been worried. Prime Minister Jean Castex, fearing a return to a health system "under strain", on Tuesday called on the French to pull themselves together to avoid a resumption of the epidemic. He also pleaded for wearing a mask despite the heatwave and asked the prefects to extend their obligation in public spaces.

With AFP and Reuters

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