206,243 new contaminations identified in 24 hours in France

The days go by and the contaminations multiply. More than 3,500 people with Covid-19 are currently hospitalized in critical care services, where the most serious cases are treated, according to data released this Thursday by Public Health France.

In detail, critical care services are currently treating 3,506 patients seriously affected by the coronavirus, including 299 new ones admitted over the past 24 hours. These services, which include in particular those of resuscitation, experienced a similar level of attendance at the end of March 2020 then at the beginning of November 2020 during the second wave of contamination and at the end of February 2021 during the third.

18,321 Covid patients in French hospitals

In total, French hospitals welcome 18,321 Covid patients including 1,922 new admitted only between Wednesday and Thursday. In 24 hours, 180 Covid patients died in French hospitals, bringing the total death toll to 123,552 since the start of the epidemic.

Between Wednesday and Thursday 206,243 new people tested positive for Covid-19. The threshold of 200,000 cases per day was exceeded for the first time on Wednesday, a new record after nearly 180,000 cases on Tuesday.

In terms of vaccination, 76.7% of French people (or 51,740,923 people) are fully vaccinated and 78.4% have received at least one injection (or 52,891,873 people).

The Omicron tidal wave

Faced with the tidal wave of contamination due to the Omicron variant, the government announced on Monday new health restriction measures such as the compulsory use of telework in the companies concerned or the return of gauges for public events.

The executive also decided to speed up the timetable for the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass, which will be discussed on Monday in the National Assembly and then on January 5 in the Senate with an implementation expected on January 15.