"This virus has shown that it was not going to simply disappear", summed up the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in early December.

In France, as in all of Europe, the end of the year was marked by an unprecedented outbreak of contaminations, which increasingly put the hospital to the test.

This is the "fifth wave", a term which illustrates how the Covid keeps coming back to the landscape.

However, this has changed a lot during the past year.

Several weapons have appeared in the fight against the epidemic, in the first place vaccination.

At the start of 2021, it had only benefited a few precursors, such as the emblematic Mauricette, the first vaccinated just before the New Year. Now, three quarters of the French are vaccinated, or 90% of those who are there. have the right.

Some worries at the start of 2021 have vanished, including that of not seeing the precious doses arrive quickly enough.

For months, France has not lacked, unlike many poor countries.

Coronavirus: the situation in France Simon MALFATTO AFP

Very far too, the concern that agitated the government at the end of 2020: the French, for many skeptical of vaccination, would they accept anti-Covid vaccines?

Most have, but the government has not only played the incentive card.

He used the hard way, through the introduction during the summer of the health pass.

The measure has gained ground since it has been widely adopted by other European countries.

It has also been strongly criticized for its liberticidal side, causing major demonstrations in the middle of August.

Was it worth it?

Without a doubt, because vaccines have been proven to prevent many serious forms of Covid.

But, during the year, a concern gradually became evident: vaccination is not enough to put an end to the epidemic.

Health pass control at the entrance of a shopping center, August 16, 2021 in Ajaccio, Corsica Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA AFP / Archives

The vaccines all quickly lost part of their effectiveness in preventing contamination, a mechanism accentuated by the appearance of new, more resistant variants.

First pills

The "third dose" has therefore appeared.

France generalized at the end of the year, to the entire adult population, this booster dose which confers a renewed immunity.

But we do not know how long it will last, especially as France and its neighbors are facing the arrival of the Omicron variant, whose meteoric rise darkens the end-of-year celebrations.

It is not only highly contagious, but is partly resistant to existing vaccines.

What to do, apart from updating the vaccines as promised by several manufacturers such as Pfizer and Moderna?

This is where the other advances of 2021 come in.

Knowledge about the virus, first of all, has advanced a lot.

It is now known to be transmitted primarily by air, rather than by contact.

The consequences are concrete in terms of daily actions: it is better to open the windows in the office than to disinfect your keyboard with hydroalcoholic gel, a measure certainly useful against other diseases.

Another great advance at the end of 2021: the first anti-Covid pills, produced by the Merck and Pfizer laboratories, even if their exact effectiveness and their potential side effects remain to be better detailed.

Molnupiravir antiviral pills from Merck, Washington on May 26, 2021 Handout Merck & Co, Inc. / AFP / Archives

"These new drugs have not yet taken their place in the strategy to fight the pandemic but it could really mark a turning point if they turn out to keep their promises", judge with AFP the French epidemiologist Antoine Flahault .

However, he remains cautious, while many aspects of the Covid are still mysterious.

This is the case of the long Covid, that is to say the manifestation of lasting symptoms.

Current research tends to show that there is indeed a syndrome specific to Covid but the extent of the phenomenon continues to be the subject of controversy.

More generally, it seems risky to venture into any prediction on the evolution of the pandemic in 2022.

"A year ago, I predicted seven days and not a year later. If you ask me today how it will evolve in a year, I will give you exactly the same answer", concludes Mr. Flahault, s' worrying above all about the long-term effects of the pandemic in terms of social cohesion.

© 2021 AFP