With more than 2,500 patients in critical care, hospital pressure worries in France

The 5th wave of Covid-19 is still as strong in France, now putting pressure on hospitals. More than 2,500 people are currently treated in critical care services, according to figures released on Saturday by Public Health France.

In the last 24 hours, 787 people with Covid-19 have been admitted to hospitals, bringing in total to 13,855 the number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in France. Above all, since the end of October, the number of hospital admissions linked to this disease has been climbing daily.

“Several parameters worry us”

“The sanitary pressure is increasing and several parameters worry us. As the wave is national, we can no longer send reinforcements or carry out massive interregional evacuations ”, declared the Minister of Health Olivier Véran in an interview with Parisian published Saturday evening. Despite the implementation in seven regions of the white plan, which allows in particular to deprogram operations and reassign staff to critical care services, “we may not be able to accommodate as many Covid patients in intensive care as during the first wave ”, anticipated the minister.

“There is care that can no longer be deprogrammed, the weariness of caregivers, the return of the flu, the epidemic of bronchiolitis, trauma … And we risk having a hospital peak between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. , at a time when caregivers are inclined to take a little well-deserved rest, ”Olivier Véran also worried. Critical care services, which treat the most serious cases (including resuscitation), welcomed 176 new patients compared to the previous day. They now have 2,539 patients, a figure that exceeds the peak of seriously ill patients listed in these services during the fourth wave this summer.

Between Friday and Saturday, 66 people hospitalized died as a result of Covid-19. In total, since the start of the epidemic, 120,383 people have died from this disease, according to figures from Public Health France. In addition, in the past 24 hours, 53,720 new cases of contamination have been recorded, down from the previous day (55,339) and Thursday (56,854).

Regarding vaccination, 52,279,128 people have received at least one injection (or 77.5% of the total population) and 51,207,545 people are fully vaccinated (76%). Since the start of the booster campaign in September, 14,314,046 people have received a booster dose.