Thibault Nadal 07:20, June 18, 2022

Recent figures from Public Health France show a strong epidemic rebound in France in recent days.

For the president of the Scientific Council, Jean-François Delfraissy, this rebound is the consequence of a relaxation of barrier gestures and the abandonment of the mask in transport. 

INTERVIEW

Is the coronavirus epidemic back?

After two months of decline, the number of positive cases for Covid-19 seems to be on the rise again, particularly in Ile-de-France where the figures have increased sharply over the past ten days.

The national incidence rate jumped 53% in seven days.

An epidemic resumption confirmed by Jean-François Delfraissy, the president of the Scientific Council: "The Covid is coming back, but we had anticipated it, since we had said that we would have a new small wave from June, with a peak probably at the end of June, beginning of July", he explains at the microphone of Europe 1.

A first wave now, but limited?

This epidemic resumption is linked to "a little cousin of Omicron. It is BA.4 and especially BA.5 which arrive from Portugal and South Africa and therefore it is in the process of 'invading', becoming dominant in France", according to Jean-François Delfraissy.

However, the president of the Scientific Council refuses to speak for the moment of a "seventh wave", even if he considers "possible that this wave will arrive now".

But don't panic, for the doctor, it "will be relatively limited because many people have been contaminated before by Omicron and they are vaccinated and it will have no limited impact on the healthcare system".

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Jean-François Delfraissy rather thinks that the BA.5 variant will reappear "in September, so that's when we can talk about a new wave".

Towards a return of the mask in transport? 

Faced with this variant, which is transmitted "even more easily than its little cousins ​​BA.2 BA.3", Jean-François Delfraissy recommends for those over 60 "a fourth dose now and not to wait until September “, before explaining that according to him, we “will probably go to a fourth dose for the entire population in the fall”.

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The President of the Scientific Council also recommends "to limit the importance of this small BA5 wave the return of barrier gestures, but also of the mask in transport".

Indeed, since May 16, the French are no longer obliged to wear the mask in public transport, such as the metro or the train.