While France has suspended the distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine, for Jean Castex, it is high time to take measures in the Île-de-France region where the incident rate is still reaching a critical level. The Prime Minister stated this Tuesday that “we are in a worrying and critical situation,” notably due to the growing threat of variants, including the new Breton one. Here is the Covid update…
In addition to vaccines and PCR tests, nasal swab self-testing kits, for which the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) has approved the sale, will be available in France starting this week, according to Jérôme Salomon, the Director-General of Health. They can be used by people aged at least 15 years and showing no symptoms.
Worldwide, there have been 117,160,237 confirmed cases since December 2019, including 23,255,514 in European Union countries. 2,598,892 deaths have been recorded, including 562,440 in the EU.
In the last 24 hours, health authorities have registered 29,975 new Covid-19 cases and 320 deaths in France, according to the latest information provided by the public health agency, Santé Publique France. In addition, 435 new people have been admitted to intensive care, raising the total number of patients in intensive care in hospitals since November 2020 to 4,239.
The total toll now stands at 4,108,108 confirmed cases and 91,196 deaths (including 65,791 in hospitals) since the beginning of the health crisis.
The test positivity rate has slightly increased compared to the last year: 7.5% (compared to 7.4%). As of March 15, 5,295,735 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine across the national territory.
10,034 new hospitalizations and 2,272 admissions to intensive care have been recorded in the last seven days.
In the PACA region
In the PACA region, 1,471 people are hospitalized (+3), 507 people are in intensive care (-5), and 6,262 people have died in hospitals since the beginning of the crisis (+36).
In the Alpes-Maritimes, 377 people are hospitalized (+11), 122 people are in intensive care (-6), and 1,212 people have died in hospitals since the beginning of the pandemic (+15).
As of March 13, 414,608 people have received at least a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in the PACA region. 183,814 have received both doses. In total, more than 37% of the population aged 75 years and over in the region has received a vaccine dose. More than 19% have received both doses. It is noteworthy that over 20,000 vaccine doses were administered this weekend thanks to the significant mobilization of many actors and volunteers for vaccination in the fight against the pandemic.
