If the Covid-19 continues to circulate in France, the epidemic peak of the second wave of coronavirus has undoubtedly been crossed, the French public health agency said on Friday, November 20.
However, the institution calls for maintaining "preventive measures".
Threatened, businesses hope for a green light on Friday to reopen soon.
President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce an adaptation of the confinement rules in force since October 29 during a televised address scheduled for Tuesday November 24 at 8 p.m., announced the Elysee.
"Even if the indicators remain at high levels, their observation suggests that the epidemic peak of the second wave has been crossed," said Public Health France (SpF) in a press release accompanying its weekly epidemiological update.
During the week of November 9 to 15, all indicators are down: confirmed cases of contamination (182,783 against 305,135 the previous week), the rate of positive results (16.2% against 19.7%), hospitalizations (17,390 versus 19,940), intensive care admissions (2,761 versus 3,037), and, to a lesser extent, deaths (3,756 versus 3,817 the previous one).
A return to the level before curfews
But the Minister of Health Olivier Véran called for caution on Thursday in the face of these encouraging figures, stressing that "epidemic pressure" had only returned to the level preceding the first curfews.
"We still have a significant circulation of the virus", notes in an interview with Le Monde Jean-François Delfraissy, the president of the Scientific Council, who guides the choices of the government.
According to him, the level of 5,000 contaminations recorded per day, set by Emmanuel Macron when he decreed the re-containment, will be reached "rather after Christmas, or even at the beginning of January".
But with the arrival of the vaccines, "I see the exit of the tunnel", confides the immunologist, in a rare touch of optimism, while the death toll of patients with Covid-19 still grows by 400 per day in the hospital, and that of nursing homes has risen sharply since the beginning of November, from 11,651 to 14,530. A total of 47,127 patients with Covid-19 have died in France since the start of the epidemic.
The death toll linked to the coronavirus on Friday evening was 386 people dead in French hospitals, while 4,566 patients with Covid-19 were still in intensive care.
Postponement of Black Friday to December 4
If "the confinement is not over", as Olivier Véran reaffirmed Thursday, the government continues to work on its lighter version.
The health restrictions of the second wave have undermined the economic recovery and the mental health of the French population is deteriorating according to the indicators of Public Health France, which reported a 10% to 21% increase in depressive states between September and November.
Among the main issues, before Christmas, the reopening of so-called "non-essential" businesses, for which the shortfall could reach 4.4 billion euros for the month of November alone.
This would be 10.8 billion if shops remained closed throughout the month of December, according to a study Friday by credit insurer Euler Hermes.
Following a meeting with Bercy, supermarkets and online commerce agreed, Friday, to postpone "Black Friday" by one week, scheduled for November 27, "subject to the reopening of retail stores. 'here there', they announced in a joint statement with the Ministry of the Economy.
"We are on the right track" to consider this reopening "around 1 December", announced Prime Minister Jean Castex, visiting Croizon in Finistère.
With AFP
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