HEALTH: Since the start of surveillance at the end of September / beginning of October, there has been “no active circulation of the Flu Virus” in France
If the Covid-19 epidemic threatens to rebound in France, that of the seasonal flu has still not started precisely thanks to the barrier gestures adopted to counter the new disease, notes the health agency Public Health France on Wednesday. “The impact of flu still seems to be significantly reduced compared to previous years thanks to the adoption of barrier gestures,” notes the health agency on Twitter, publishing its weekly influenza surveillance bulletin.
[#Grippe] Pas de circulation active des virus grippaux
➡️L’impact de la grippe semble toujours nettement diminué par rapport aux années précédentes, grâce à l’adoption des gestes barrièreshttps://t.co/M6Q7qtujKd pic.twitter.com/zkmJjF8DAK— SantépubliqueFrance (@SantePubliqueFr) December 30, 2020
No case of flu in intensive care
Since the start of surveillance in late September / early October, there has been “no active circulation of flu viruses” in mainland France, according to this bulletin. In addition, over the same period, “no serious case of influenza was reported by the services participating in this surveillance”, no admission to intensive care having been recorded for this reason.
By way of comparison, last year, the flu sent 61 patients to intensive care between early November and late December, including nine in the last week of December, the current one. In recent months, health authorities have frequently recalled that generalized barrier measures to combat the new coronavirus (hand washing, physical distancing, mask, etc.) were also useful against other winter viruses that cause influenza or gastroenteritis.
Flu vaccination has jumped this year
“In the current context, physical distancing and barrier gestures are essential to limit the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic and other viruses”, underlines Public Health France in its influenza bulletin.
In mid-December, the health agency indicated that the flu vaccination had jumped this year among people at risk. The authorities this year particularly encouraged the French to get vaccinated against the flu in order to avoid overloading emergency services already facing the Covid-19 pandemic.
