Paris (AFP)
"We are witnessing an upward trend" in cases linked to Covid-19, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran summed up on BFMTV and RMC on Friday.
But this is a "small push, not an epidemic wave", he immediately put into perspective, believing that a strong recovery of Covid-19 was not "the most likely".
Since the end of August, the epidemic has folded in France to reach a particularly low level since the start of the health crisis, against the background in particular of the success of the vaccination campaign, one of the most advanced in Europe.
From now on, the decline is over: "after eight successive weeks of decline, the incidence rate has increased," Nicolas Méthy, one of the officials of Public Health France, stressed Friday during a press briefing.
This indicator shows the proportion of infected people among the population.
Its rebound is not surprising: the drop in temperatures pushes people to regroup indoors, to close windows and therefore to increase the risk of contamination.
However, if infections are on the rise, Public Health France considers it excessive to speak of "resumption of the epidemic", a point of view widely shared by researchers and authorities.
Most crucially, there is currently no rebound in hospitalizations linked to Covid-19 and we can hope that the situation remains under control given the large proportion of French people vaccinated.
Almost three quarters are.
However, if vaccines lose their effectiveness over time against infections, they continue to be very protective against severe forms, limiting the risk of hospitalization.
Watch out for looseness
"With the vaccine, we can have a resumption of the circulation of the virus without necessarily having a resumption of hospitalizations or a level that would put the health systems under tension", underlines to AFP Arnaud Fontanet, epidemiologist at the Institut Pasteur and member of the Scientific Council which guides the French government.
Covid-19: situation in AFP hospitals
He therefore considers it essential to continue to encourage the French to be vaccinated as much as possible, either if they have not yet done so at all, or if they are among those eligible since September for a booster dose, which includes in particular those over 65.
"You really should not be passive on this," insists Mr. Fontanet.
The situation in France continues to contrast with other European countries where the epidemic is in full recovery, especially in the East where vaccination is less advanced, but also in the United Kingdom which lifted almost all restrictions this summer. .
Although it remains to be seen how much the UK healthcare system will suffer from the resumption of infections.
Several researchers see the local situation as a warning not to indulge in a slack.
We must "not completely relax the barrier gestures and precautions such as the health pass for the moment", judge with AFP Jean-Claude Manuguerra, virologist at the Pasteur Institute.
"That's what happened in Britain and that's probably what's not helping the situation at all."
The French government is on the same line and does not hide the fact that it is very unlikely to soon lift the obligation to present this pass issued to people fully vaccinated or tested negatively to enter a wide range of places including restaurants and cinemas.
"The time has not come to remove the tools that protect us while we see that the virus is no longer decreasing", warned Mr. Véran, while the deputies have just paved the way for an extension of the pass beyond the deadline initially planned for mid-November.
The minister also judged that it was not "illogical" to condition the pass to a booster dose in the people supposed to benefit from it.
© 2021 AFP