The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, said Thursday that "we have passed the peak of the rebound" of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The number of new contaminations "has dropped by around 5% now for five days", with 140,000 to 150,000 new cases recorded daily on average, he added.

Asked whether the peak of the rebound had been reached, the health agency estimated, during its weekly press briefing, that "we cannot answer in the affirmative to this question of having reached the peak of the rebound of epidemic so far".

“To know if we have reached the peak of the rebound of this epidemic recovery, we must have exceeded it and confirm that we are in a phase of decline in the epidemic”, underlined the agency.

Coronavirus: the situation in France Simon MALFATTO AFP

"The changes in incidence and screening rates will have to be interpreted with caution in the coming weeks, due to the increasingly frequent use of self-tests", not counted "when they are not subject to confirmation. by antigenic test or RT-PCR”, also warned Public Health France in a press release.

The circulation of the virus remains "sustained", with for example a reproduction rate always greater than 1.

“If there is a start of a decline in incidence and positivity in people under 20, especially in children, the trend is to be confirmed in the coming weeks”, according to the health agency.

In mainland France, the incidence rate seemed to stabilize in Brittany, Grand-Est and Nouvelle-Aquitaine the week of March 28 to April 3, but increased further in the other regions.

And "we are attentive in particular to the evolution of the dynamics of the epidemic among the oldest people", whose hospitalization rate has increased, explained Public Health France during its press briefing.

The increase in the number of hospital admissions has not so far been reflected in the intensive care units, which treat the most serious forms of the disease and where the number of patients seems to have stabilized.

"In the current context of high circulation of SARS-CoV2 and influenza viruses as well as their impact on the healthcare system and on the hospital, the application of barrier gestures is essential", reaffirmed the agency.

© 2022 AFP