Like many European countries, France is in the grip of a swift increase in new Covid-19 contaminations. As of July 20, the authorities reported over 18,000 new cases, namely a 150% increase in one week.
On Wednesday July 21, invited on TF1, Prime Minister Jean Castex did not hide his concerns: “This is the fourth wave”, he said. “To prevent from making strong curbing measures, we need the health pass and vaccination”, he explained.
A few hours later, the Health Minister said he was worried about the swift spread of the Delta variant in the country, saying the epidemic was “likely to peak at the end of summer”. “The Delta variant spreads swiftly. […] All models are matching, whether they are made by the INSERM, the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS or the CDC. They predict the epidemic to peak at the end of summer, potentially strong enough to impact the hospital system if we do not take action until then”, Véran explained this Wednesday at the National Assembly. “Do not let sunny days put you to sleep for the virus go on no vacations”, he added before specifying: “all the evidence suggests that we are ahead of the worst case scenario”.
This Monday August 23, the Health Minister has detailed this expected epidemic peak. According to models from the Institut Pasteur, "a peak is likely to occur in ICU in a few days, and then, admissions and checks-out could be stable", he told our peers from BFMTV. He goes on explaining the French should be extra cautious as they are back from areas the virus has spread a lot over the past days. "At the moment, there are many French people who were vacationing in South and South-West of France, where the virus has spread the mots, who will return home in regions relatively spared by the fourth wave", he adds.
He concludes: "We need to be extremely cautious and I ask every single French watching us to be careful in the coming days and weeks, comply with health guidelines, wear a facecover everywhere it is necessary, wash their hands, you know all this". School start is likely to be tensed in hospitals despite the increasing vaccinee toll.
