After a respite, Covid-19 cases are growing back up in France. With the outbreak of Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 – now dominating in the country – specialists are worried about another wave as summer is just around the corner. This resurgence was expected – whilst facemasks are no longer compulsory in public transit and the French are less and less vigilant after almost three difficult years.
Over the past days, the contamination toll reached circa 22,354 positive cases, namely a 26% increase in one week. This data is far from the peak experienced in April, where 140,000 cases were reported per day. Subvariants improve Covid-19 transmission as they are far more contagious. Yet, hospitalizations keep on declining.
The University of Geneva considers the epidemic resurgence will be more noticeable in the Ile-de-France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions as they are likely to be stormed by tourists this summer. In order to anticipate a too severe rise in contaminations, and to prevent a snowball effect in hospitals, the Haute Autorité de Santé already recommends to prepare a vaccination boost campaign for people the most at risk by the end of summer.
Should contaminations be too considerable by a few weeks, the government might decide to reinstate facemask-wearing in public transit and in some public places.
