Covid-19: should we be worried about the progression of the virus in France?

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More than 5,400 new cases of infection with the coronavirus have been recorded in the past 24 hours, Public Health France announced on Saturday, a figure down after three days of "exponential" progression. Health authorities warn against any slackening.

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In France, 5,453 new positive coronavirus diagnoses were recorded in the last 24 hours, against 7,379 Friday, 6,111 Thursday and 5,429 Wednesday, which were new records since the tests were carried out on a large scale.

The positivity rate for tests (number of people tested positive divided by the number of people tested) continued to increase, standing at 4% over the last seven days, against 3.9% announced on Friday, 3.8 % Thursday and 3.6% Wednesday.

Since the start of the epidemic 30,602 people have died in France, or 6 more in 24 hours, including 20,095 in hospitals and 10,507 (data from Thursday) in social and medico-social establishments.

4,530 people were hospitalized due to Covid-19, five less than Thursday, including 400 patients in an intensive care unit, or 13 more in 24 hours.

17 departments are now considered to be in a “high vulnerability” situation, a classification produced by Public Health France using all of the epidemic monitoring indicators.

Five departments are located in Ile-de-France (Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Val d'Oise) and four in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region ( Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Vaucluse). The other territories concerned are the Gironde, the Hérault, the Loiret, the Rhône, the Sarthe and, Outremer, Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 36 other departments are in a situation of “moderate vulnerability”.

► To read also: Coronavirus in France: the obligation to wear a mask extends in large cities

Is the situation worrying?

The virus is progressing in a population that is masked, that respects distancing, with traffic and with a certain collective immunity. These four phenomena slow down the spread of the virus and will mean that the epidemic peak will be much lower than the first wave, but unfortunately at the cost of the virus spreading for a longer time. Unfortunately, you have to be prepared to live with the virus for a while ...

Frédéric Adnet, professor of medicine at the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny

Laurence Théault

(With AFP )

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