The Decline of Covid-19: Positive Testing Trends and Vaccination Updates

2024-02-16 11:32:29

Positive Covid tests are increasingly rare / Getty Images

Covid-19 is still circulating, but very quietly. According to the latest figures based on laboratory tests, Covid is nothing more than a distant memory. As you can see on the map below, only four departments have an incidence rate higher than 10 cases per 100,000 inhabitants: Charente-Maritime, Landes, Mayenne and Meurthe-et-Moselle.

5 departments with an incidence of less than 2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants

We even notice the absence of positive cases during the week of February 5 to 11 in the laboratories of Corsica-du-Sud. Aube, Aude, Corrèze, Lozère are among the departments where the virus circulates the least, with an incidence of less than 2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

On a national scale, notes Santé Publique France in its weekly newsletterthe incidence rate is 5 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 6 the previous week.

An almost generalized decline

An almost generalized decline in all departments of France, as illustrated in the map below, which lists the evolution of positive cases in the laboratory from one week to the next. Only 15 departments recorded an increase, which goes up to 200% in the Lot, but remains at a low level since the incidence rate there is only 3.44 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Conversely, the decline continues in the majority of departments, with -60% in Aube, Hérault or Meuse for example. As Santé Publique France notes in its weekly bulletin, all Covid indicators are stable or decreasing.

Figures to be taken with caution

Please note, however, that these data only take into account positive tests in the laboratory and no longer in pharmacies. This figure must also be put into perspective by taking into account the low screening rate among the population, which continues to decline.

According to Santé Publique France, the screening rate was 111 screenings per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 118 the previous week.

The flu still very active

Bronchiolitis, another epidemic under surveillance this winter, is experiencing the same evolution, with in France, all regions located outside the epidemic and a drop in indicators, which are located at low levels. A situation recorded in the context of the deployment of preventive treatment Beyfortus, supposed to prevent serious forms of bronchiolitis in infants.

On the other hand, the other epidemic under surveillance, the flu, is still circulating very actively, notes Santé Publique France, with also the continuation of the epidemic in France. Faced with this very active circulation, the vaccination campaign has been extended. Estimates give vaccination coverage lower than in 2023.