According to AFP, over 800,000 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded in Europe since the onset of the global pandemic. As a third epidemic wave threatens France, attention is focused on vaccination, the only tool capable of fighting the virus. Here’s the COVID update…
This Saturday, health authorities reported 21,231 new COVID-19 cases and 199 hospital deaths. The total has risen to 3,448,617 confirmed cases and 81,647 deaths throughout the country, including 57,648 in hospitals.
According to the agency Santรฉ Publique France, 2,146,210 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine in France as of today. In the past 24 hours, 167,369 new people have been vaccinated. The test positivity rate remains stable at 6.1%.
During this week, 10,037 standard hospitalizations have been recorded by health authorities, including 1,795 admitted to intensive care. For someone who has already been infected with the coronavirus, it is recommended to receive only one dose of the vaccine.
This Friday, the Minister of Health, Olivier Vรฉran, visited Moselle to assess the situation with local officials and doctors. “100 new cases per day” are reported, affirmed the minister. Olivier Vรฉran announced a strengthening of the vaccination and COVID testing policy in Moselle to address this growing epidemic situation. Meanwhile, local officials were calling for strengthened and restrictive measures to slow the virus’s spread in the departments. Recently, the mayor of the city of Metz requested a departmental lockdown.
For the prefect of Moselle, Laurent Touvet, “there will be no new measures at this stage. Current measures are sufficient.” Therefore, there is no question of closing schools. “There will be no generalized closures. That would be excessive given the number of cases.” However, starting next Monday, if a student tests positive, not only will the student be isolated for ten days instead of seven (new rule applied), but the class will also be required to close.
