A sign that shows that the virus has not disappeared. Several indicators point to a slight recovery from the Covid-19 epidemic in early August. According to data from the Oscour network (Organization for Coordinated Emergency Surveillance), visits to the emergency room on suspicion of Covid-19 are increasing among children under 2 years of age and adults for the week of July 31 to August 6.
In its bulletin published this Tuesday, the network reports a 56% increase in emergency visits for this reason among children under 2 years of age, 25% among those between 15 and 74 years of age and 34% among those over 74. years. The previous bulletin, which covered the week of July 24-30, had already noted an increase in tickets due to suspected Covid-19 infection.
The increase is particularly marked in Pays de la Loire, Normandy, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Nouvelle-Aquitaine in particular. However, the numbers in question remain modest, with 485 visits in a week nationally for people aged 15-74, for example.
For this same week, SOS Médecins also records an 85% increase in medical procedures for suspected Covid-19, all age groups combined.
Eris, a new variant that arises
This resumption of the epidemic has several causes, explains the epidemiologist Mircea Sofonea in Parisian. He mentions “the efficacy of the vaccine that declines over time, and therefore protects less”, a summer context “propitious for the spread of the virus, with highly promiscuous events such as the Bayonne Festival or festivals” and “viral evolution” , with the Eris variant in particular.
This EG.5.1 variant has been designated “next to follow” by the World Health Organization. This UN agency explains in a note published this Wednesday that several countries with an increasing prevalence of this variant have also seen an increase in their number of cases and hospitalizations, but that this does not necessarily mean that the severity of the disease increases with this variant.
The epidemiological surveillance of Covid-19 by Public Health France changed in July due to the “favorable epidemic context”: hospitalizations due to Covid-19 and the results of the PCR and antigen tests that made it possible to provide a number of new daily cases or a positivity screening rate are no longer counted.
Source: BFM TV
