Paris (AFP)

The government intends "not to give up" in the face of the threat of the highly contagious Delta variant and to maintain the pressure on vaccination, knowing that the milestone of half of French people vaccinated in the first dose against Covid-19 was crossed on Tuesday.

The Delta variant (formerly called "Indian") is progressing and represents "20% of new cases" of Covid-19, double the previous week, but "we can escape it" with vaccination and close tracing, assured Tuesday the Minister of Health Olivier Véran on franceinfo.

Last Wednesday, government spokesman Gabriel Attal estimated the presence of the Delta variant, which appeared in India in April, at between 9 and 10% of new cases of Covid-19 in France.

It is progressing "in percentage and not in absolute value because the number of cases is decreasing", underlined the minister.

At the national level, "for the moment, the incidence rate (number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants) continues to drop, we are at 18, that is to say 20 to 30 times less than at the time of the peak", explained the minister to the day before the lifting of gauges in closed places (restaurants, cinema, etc.).

Consequently, we "must not give up" in the face of a variant which, "at the present time, tends to decline, including in the Landes".

In this department where it appeared first in France, the government carried out "a very strong action plan, of contact tracing (tracing of transmission chains), of mass vaccination, and the incidence rate fell by 10 % in a few days, "he said.

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- Delta, 90% end of August -

Nevertheless, Delta is "more contagious (around 60% more than the British variant, Alpha) and it is gradually becoming dominant," Mr. Véran recalled.

This is the case in the UK, Russia or Australia.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that Delta will account for 90% of Covid-19 cases at the end of August in Europe.

In the speed race that has started, the main weapon remains vaccination in the eyes of the executive, which has set itself the goal of 35 million French people (and 66% of adults) fully vaccinated as well as 40 million (and 75% of adults) of first doses injected for the end of August.

The milestone of half of French first-vaccinated was crossed Tuesday evening with 33.69 million people (50% of the total population) having received at least one dose and 22.26 million with a complete vaccination schedule.

The government wants to avoid a fourth wave in the fall.

In any case, it seeks to contain it and ideally aims "zero health, social and educational impact".

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To do this, it is necessary to continue to vaccinate at all costs, in particular people with co-morbidities - approximately two-thirds covered against a target of over 80% - and those over 55 who are still 4.8 million to not be protected (against 5 million the previous week), said Tuesday the Ministry of Health during a briefing.

- Vacation route -

"We continue to progress on the oldest even if we have entered the phase of the last kilometer", the same source said, citing first injection rates of 83% for those over 70, 80% for those over 60 and 76% for those over 50.

"The vaccination rate is still rising but not fast enough", underlined Mr. Véran, confident in the granting within a few days of a favorable opinion from the CNIL (National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms) for communicate to physicians the list of their unvaccinated patients.

He also mentioned the strong possibility of making the vaccination of caregivers compulsory.

Olivier Véran said he wrote to the directors of nursing homes where, according to the ministry, "professionals are 57% to have received a first dose" and only 44% to be completely protected.

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To give a new boost to vaccination (some 100,000 appointments do not find takers daily), the ministry recalled the devices planned on the road to the holidays.

There will be "sensitizations" on the motorway areas and regional health agencies will establish "exceptional devices", such as "large number of drives" and "barnums at summer and gathering places".

"The watchword is to take advantage of the holidays to bring as many people as possible to vaccination, including first-time injection," the ministry was told.

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© 2021 AFP