The question of extending the Health Pass has led to strong opposition on social media, with French citizens and elected officials comparing the measure to Apartheid or the Holocaust. Nevertheless, the much-feared 4th wave seems to have indeed started.
The figures from Santé publique France published on July 14 in the late afternoon reveal a sharp increase in the number of daily cases: 8,875 new cases have been identified in the country, a number that is 117% higher than that of Wednesday, July 7.
The figure is even more impressive when compared to the data from June, exactly a month ago. On Monday, June 14, France reached its lowest pandemic level with only 689 cases identified in 24 hours. By July 14, the increase is therefore 1,288%: the number of cases has multiplied by 13 in one month, reaching a level not seen since early June 2021.
With this sharp rise in infections in France, the test positivity rate is also increasing: it rose from 0.9% on July 7, 2021, to 1.3% on July 14, 2021, according to data from Santé publique France. But what is concerning are mainly the average figures: with an average of 5,008 cases per day over a week, the arbitrary threshold set by the government during the lifting of certain restrictions has been exceeded upwards.
In France, since the start of the pandemic, 5.829 million people have contracted Covid-19, and 111,442 have died from it.
