Paris (AFP)
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal estimated Monday that a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic from the end of July is "a possibility", confirming a warning from the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
"For a little less than a week, the epidemic has regained ground, the Delta variant which is particularly contagious, particularly worrying, is gaining ground very quickly", worried Mr. Attal on France Inter.
"It doubles almost every week, today we are at more than 30% of contaminations linked to the Delta variant and we have examples around us which show that this situation may be the first signs of a restart of the epidemic. ", he added.
Asked about the risk of a 4th wave from the end of July, he replied that "it is a possibility", but not a "fatality" because "we have a trump card to prevent a new wave from breaking over our hospital. , it is vaccination ".
But "we observed in the United Kingdom an explosion which took place very quickly after the first warning signs and we can consider that these signs, we see them today in our country", he warned .
The Pasteur Institute had for its part warned on June 29 of a possible fourth wave, but much later, in the fall, if the current rate of vaccination continued.
"The English example shows that a wave is possible from the end of July. We can limit it and limit the health impact: barrier gestures, vaccine, test / alert / protect", alerted the Minister of Health Olivier Véran Sunday night on Twitter, while calling to go "even faster" on vaccination.
Since the start of the vaccination campaign, 34,549,222 people have received at least one injection (i.e. 51.2% of the total population) and 24,426,131 people now have a complete vaccination schedule (36.2% of the population) , according to figures from Public Health France on Sunday.
A total of 2,549 new cases of Covid were confirmed over the last 24 hours on Sunday, for a positivity rate that remains low, at 0.8% over the last seven days.
Prime Minister Jean Castex is due to consult this week with the leaders of Parliament and local elected officials to address, among other things, the issue of compulsory vaccination for caregivers.
© 2021 AFP