The Covid 19 pandemic has entered its fourth year and has already claimed millions of lives. If the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that the virus remains a public health emergency of international concern, in France, the epidemic recovery is in full swing.
Covid has been on the rise since the beginning of March with no negative impact on hospitalizations, but monitoring the epidemic has become more difficult with changes in testing policy. Last week, the incidence and positivity rates “continued to increase, while remaining at low levels”, according to the latest report from Public Health France. The test positivity rate thus reached 16.6%, compared to 14% the previous week. Public Health France reported 55,088 new confirmed cases, compared to 47,626 the week before. Last week, new hospitalizations were thus decreasing or stable in the majority of regions.
Omicron’s XBB.1.5 subvariant, which is spreading rapidly in the United States, is the most transmissible subvariant of Covid-19 to date and threatens to become the dominant strain in Europe in the coming months. XBB.1.5 is very similar to its predecessor, XBB.1, but has an additional mutation in its Spike protein, the virus’s infamous entry key. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the overall risk level of the subvariant remains low for the general population. However, the risk is “moderate to high” for vulnerable people, such as the elderly or unvaccinated.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that healthy adults do not need an additional dose of Covid vaccine, beyond primary vaccination and a first booster, the benefits for health being minimal. For this group of people under the age of 60 said to be at average risk – to which are also added children and adolescents from 6 months to 17 years with comorbidities – there is no risk in receiving additional injections, but “the health returns are low,” WHO vaccine experts said.
The vaccination obligation against Covid will be lifted for caregivers and other professionals concerned in France, after a favorable opinion from the High Authority for Health (HAS) on Thursday which Minister François Braun has undertaken to follow “rapidly”.
