Paris (AFP)
France began two weeks of confined school holidays on Saturday, without travel between regions but with a curfew at 7:00 p.m. for everyone, in the hope of curbing the Covid-19 epidemic while the vaccination, still chaotic, accelerates .
No departures to the sea or to the countryside, or only on the pretext of dropping off a child with relatives: for the second consecutive year, the spring holidays have a taste of confinement, even if that of 2021 allows you to breathe more than an hour and leaves the parks, gardens and beaches open.
At the Virsac tollgate, the gateway to Bordeaux and the Gironde coast, the gendarmes stepped up the checks on Friday evening, but "globally the people who are outside have valid reasons", noted Captain Lionel Billette, second in command of the The Gironde road safety squadron, on the eve of a weekend classified as green by Bison Futé.
On April 10, 2020, after more than three weeks of strict confinement, France was just emerging from the peak of 7,000 patients received in intensive care.
A year later, many sectors (catering, cultivation) have been closed for five months and the situation has become very tense again in the hospital, the result of an epidemic out of control in March, pushed by the more contagious English variant of the coronavirus. .
Friday evening, the Ministry of Health beat the recall of the troops, calling in a statement "all health professionals", students, health reserve, retirees, liberal doctors, to strengthen hospitals, by registering first on a ministry platform, Renfort RH Crise.
- Soon 100,000 dead -
"The day before yesterday we were at full capacity, all the beds were occupied and we had to carry out medical evacuations. We really thank the families who accepted (...) It was the only way to be able to cope with the problem. 'influx of patients,' Prof. Jean-Damien Ricard, from the intensive care and intensive care unit of the Louis-Mourier hospital in Colombes, near Paris, told AFP on Friday.
For several weeks, to increase reception capacities, the sheaves have been nibbling away at the spaces of other services and hospitals have been forced to deprogram less urgent activities to welcome Covid-19 patients.
Friday, more than 5,750 patients affected by the virus were treated in these critical care services, on a current capacity increased to 8,000 beds of sheaves all pathologies combined.
The death toll also continues to grow, with 301 deaths recorded in hospitals on Friday, and a total (98,395) which brings France closer to the 100,000 dead mark, already exceeded in Italy or the United Kingdom.
In 2021, around 340 Covid-19 patients died on average every day.
Rare encouraging sign, even before the closure of schools, the circulation of the virus continued to progress last week, but in a less rapid way than the preceding ones, "which can testify to a slowdown", noted Public Health France.
The health agency also underlined a "viral circulation of less intensity" in Île-de-France and in Hauts-de-France, two regions among the most affected by the 3rd epidemic wave, where reduced confinements had entered into force from March 20.
But if it were to be confirmed, the braking of the epidemic will have effects in the hospital only after a shift, one to two weeks later.
- 500,000 doses Friday -
The only way out is therefore vaccination.
The pace is accelerating, with more than 500,000 injections in Friday alone, after more than 400,000 Thursday.
But even at this rate, total protection of the adult population is still a long way off: if the vaccination coverage rate with two doses approaches 75% among nursing home residents, it only reaches 35% among 75-79 year-olds in the city, 9% among 70-74 year olds, 4% among 65-69 year olds.
Saturday morning, Prime Minister Jean Castex was to go to a vaccination center in Lyon, after a visit to the Edouard Herriot hospital.
Like other European countries, the vaccination campaign remains chaotic in France, subject in particular to the chain disappointments of the AstraZeneca product, between drop in deliveries and fears about side effects, even if they remain extremely rare.
On Friday, the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended a 2nd dose of a different vaccine (Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna) for those under 55 who had received a first dose of AstraZeneca before it was suspended in March for these age categories because of cases of atypical thrombosis.
The HAS also recommended not to use the vaccine from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory in Moselle, Guyana, Mayotte and Reunion, because it is too ineffective against the South African variant of the coronavirus, more present in these territories.
© 2021 AFP