Paris | France has recorded 10,593 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours, a new record since the launch of large-scale tests in the country, and 50 new deaths, Public Health France announced Thursday.
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Some 3,223 COVID patients have been hospitalized over the last 7 days, or 247 more than the figures announced the day before, including 535 in intensive care, said the public health service.
On the other hand, the positivity rate (proportion of the number of positive people compared to the total number of people tested) remained stable at 5.4%.
Since the start of the epidemic, at least 31,095 deaths linked to COVID have been recorded in France, including 20,567 in hospitals.
If the virus is still in “strong circulation in young adults”, it is also “on the rise in 75 years and over”, underlines SpF.
New restrictions in Lyon and Nice
New restrictions will be decided in France by Saturday in Lyon (center-east) and Nice (south-east), where the coronavirus is circulating at a worrying level and the measures in force could be tightened in Marseille and Guadeloupe, a- an official source said on Thursday.
“If the health situation does not improve” in Marseille (south-east) and Guadeloupe (West Indies), where restrictions have already been adopted, “it will undoubtedly be necessary to take even stronger measures”, warned the minister. of Health, Olivier Véran, citing “the possible closure of bars” or “the ban on public gatherings”.
Due to the acceleration in the circulation of the virus, Bordeaux (south-west), Marseille and Guadeloupe have already imposed measures such as the ban on gatherings of more than 10 people in parks or on beaches, the reduction of the gauge from 5000 to 1000 for large events and the cancellation of certain events.
It is on this type of measure that Lyon and Nice should join them, where the incidence rate (number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants) reached respectively 200, ie “four times the alert rating”, and 150, Olivier Véran clarified. In addition, in the Marseille region, a proportion of Covid patients in intensive care has reached 30%.
“Our fight is to put in place measures to avoid the influx into the hospital, it is not a race against time, we have to decide at the right time, not too early, because they are binding, not too late”, commented the Minister.
While 53 departments have exceeded the alert threshold of 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, several agglomerations, including the French capital, are under surveillance.
“In Lille, Toulouse, Rennes, Dijon and Paris, the incidence rate in the general population is high, of the order of 3 to 4 times the alert rating” but “the critical thresholds have not yet been reached”, explained Olivier Véran. “We will be extremely attentive in these metropolises”.
Among the novelties, the minister announced that nursery professionals who were to wear the mask only in the presence of parents will now also have to wear it with children.
For his part, the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, indicated before a parliamentary commission of inquiry, that nearly 45,000 people have been fined since the release of confinement in May and fined 135 euros for not -respect for wearing a mask.