The epidemic rebound continues in France with 139,517 new cases of Covid this Saturday, March 26. The BA.2 sub-variant is now the majority. Update on Omicron’s progress in France.
The Omicron variant, detected in all of the 139,517 positive cases identified this Saturday, March 29, continues to progress in France. The number of intensive care patients fell slightly with 1,481 people. Hospitalizations remain stable and critical care admissions and the number of deaths continued to decline.
The incidence rate continues to increase with 1,165 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It is highest among 6-14 year olds and 30-49 year olds. Strong increases are observed among 60-89 year olds. the rate increased in all regions of France (+25% in New Aquitaine or +90% in Corsica).
The BA.2 took over from Omicron’s BA.1
Three months after the start of the Omicron wave in France, the BA.2 variant took over. It is now the majority in France, with 73% of the 2,229 Omicron sequences in the Flash S10 survey. The progression of BA.2 to the detriment of BA.1 is observed throughout metropolitan France, but at different levels depending on the region. This subvariant is more contagious as several studies have shown.
According to data from Public Health France, vaccination coverage in the general population was 79.4% for a complete primary vaccination and 58.5% for the booster dose. The booster dose vaccination coverage was 73.1% among those aged 18 and over and 83.1% among those aged 65 and over. In addition, 9.4% of children aged 10 to 11 had received a first dose of vaccine (3.1% for 5 to 9 year olds). 93.5% of residents in Ehpad or USLD had received a complete primary vaccination and 71.0% had received a booster.