Paris (AFP)
The fourth wave of Covid-19 is still progressing, particularly striking the south of France and Guadeloupe and Martinique, to saturated hospitals, at a time when several tens of thousands of people will again demonstrate against the health pass on Saturday, two days away of its extension.
In this context, the executive emphasizes the need to continue the "vaccine sprint" initiated to achieve the set target of 50 million people having received a first dose of vaccine by the end of August.
"Get vaccinated," Emmanuel Macron urged in a video posted on Instagram on Friday, the latest in a series intended to answer the questions of the French on vaccination.
The new cases detected remain numerous: 25,077 Friday, against 26,460 the day before, for a positivity rate of 4.2%, according to Public Health France, which however noted Thursday "a more moderate increase" in their number for the week of July 26 to August 1.
Vaccination continues to progress, with more than 44.4 million French people having received at least one injection (65.9% of the total population) and nearly 37 million having a complete vaccination schedule (54.6%) .
- From "disaster medicine" -
Those who categorically refuse it, doubt, or are vaccinated, but who criticize the health pass, extended Monday, August 9 to many public places, long-distance transport, places of culture and restaurants, meet on Saturday for a fourth day of mobilization.
A Covid patient is taken care of in the intensive care unit of the Pointe-à-Pitre University Hospital on August 6, 2021 Cedrick Isham CALVADOS AFP
In metropolitan France, the epidemiological situation is particularly scrutinized in the south, where the incidence rates have sharply increased, for example to exceed 400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Occitania (and even the threshold of 1,000 for 20/30 year olds) and the 500 cases in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in early August.
In Haute-Corse, the incidence rate was four times higher than the national average this week,
Epidemic rebound, influx of holidaymakers, caregivers on summer vacation: this cocktail prompted the authorities to trigger the White Plan, which strengthens the organization of hospitals all around the Mediterranean, in Corsica, in the Paca region, then in Occitania. .
And, as a result, Germany will impose from Sunday a quarantine for unimmunized travelers from the south of France.
Overseas, the situation is critical in Guadeloupe, entering its third confinement Wednesday evening, with a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
Queue in front of a Covid-19 vaccination center in Fort-de-France, Martinique, August 3, 2021 Thomas THURAR AFP / Archives
"The incidence rate is alarming with 1,108.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven rolling days against 875.6 cases last week", and the positivity rate of the tests reached 24.6%, alerted the prefecture and the government on Friday. 'Regional health agency.
It is "a crisis situation, of appalling intensity, which we have never known until then. We have switched to disaster medicine", testifies to AFP Doctor Marc Valette, head of the service. intensive care unit at the Guadeloupe University Hospital, where the first patients were evacuated to the metropolis in an attempt to relieve the congestion in the services.
Faced with the outbreak of the epidemic, the regional prefect has taken new measures: the restaurants, which remained open at noon, will be closed from Monday 8:00 p.m.
- "Release" -
Martinique, with an incidence rate also greater than 1,000, has also been re-defined, since July 30, for at least three weeks.
A Covid patient is taken care of in the intensive care unit of the Pointe-à-Pitre University Hospital on August 6, 2021 Cedrick Isham CALVADOS AFP
"There was a relaxation everywhere on the barrier gestures", lamented Tuesday Hossein Mehdaoui, head of the resuscitation-anesthesia-emergencies pole at the Martinique University Hospital, saturated and who received the reinforcement of forty doctors and nurses of the armies.
The island faces a low vaccination rate (around 18%, while its neighbor Guadeloupe reaches nearly 30%) and strong resistance.
Thus, the introduction of the new curfew was followed by the burning of a vaccinodrome and a pharmacy during clashes between demonstrators and the police in Fort-de-France.
Reunion is partially reconfigured during the day until August 16 and the incidence rate remains high, at more than 390 patients per 100,000 inhabitants, according to Public Health France on Thursday.
© 2021 AFP