The week of June 20 to 26, the incidence rate increased by 53%, an acceleration compared to the previous week (+29%), according to the latest bulletin from the health agency.

Thursday, the number of contaminations amounted to 133,346, an increase of 67% in seven days.

The week of June 20 to 26, the increase in new hospitalizations also continued (+19%) after a 26% increase the previous week.

On Thursday, 15,836 people were hospitalized with a Covid diagnosis.

Hospitalization rates were particularly high among 80-89 year olds (35.4 per 100,000 inhabitants) and 90 and over (61.8 per 100,000), specifies Public Health France.

Over the week studied, the number of deaths in hospital and in medico-social establishments and services also increased after several weeks of decline (225, +3%).

Over the period, vaccination coverage has progressed very little, notes Public Health France.

Thus, only 25.5% of those aged 60-79 and 31.3% of those aged 80 and over who were eligible had received their second booster dose.

Health authorities have been campaigning for several days to encourage the most vulnerable to carry out this recall.

On June 13, the BA.5 sub-lineage of Omicron became the majority, representing 59% of the interpretable sequences, replacing the BA.2 variant which only represented 21%.

The current seventh wave of Covid can be explained in particular by the arrival of this sub-variant, which is even more contagious than the previous ones.

"At the moment T, the situation is not critical", assured Friday on LCI the spokesperson of the government, Olivia Grégoire.

“We are absolutely vigilant (…) The Prime Minister (Elisabeth Borne) saw yesterday (Thursday) all the representatives of the political parties of the National Assembly but also of the Senate to explain what we are going to propose, since from the week Next, a bill will be discussed in Parliament to strengthen our epidemiological surveillance tools,” she added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP on Thursday to expect "high levels" of Covid-19 this summer in Europe.

© 2022 AFP