EPIDEMIC: More than 56,000 people have died in France since the start of the coronavirus pandemic
France recorded 13,713 new cases of contamination by the coronavirus in twenty-four hours, well above the target of 5,000 cases set by the government to lift containment measures on December 15th, according to official data released on Tuesday.
The positivity rate (percentage of positive cases out of the total people tested) stood at 6.4% on Tuesday. But we can not compare it to 10.7 / 10.8% in recent days because Public Health France has changed its calculation methods.
The risk of reinfection now taken into account
Previously, Spf only took into account people who tested positive or negative for the first time. “Thus, were excluded people multitested negative with the consequence of an increasing underestimation over time of the number of people tested”, since it is now “frequent that the same person performs several tests, in particular when the previous ones were negative “, explained the health agency in the early evening.
Now people “re-tested positive for the first time in more than 60 days” and all people who test negative, even those who have already been, are included. “The risk of reinfection, which is now considered very low but possible after 60 days, must be able to be identified”, explains the health agency.
3,078 patients in intensive care
With the new calculation, the positivity rate, which stood at 10.7% on December 4 over the last seven days, mechanically drops to 6.4% on the same date, because the basis on which the proportion of tests is calculated positive is wider.
The number of patients in intensive care continued to decline slightly, to 3,078 (against 3,188 the day before), including 214 entries in these services over the last twenty-four hours, according to data from Public Health France.
The second criterion established by the executive to end travel restrictions is that the number of patients in intensive care be reduced to a range between 2,500 and 3,000.
Hospitals counted 25,882 Covid-19 patients on Tuesday, including 1,597 new entries. As of Monday, the patients numbered 26,365.
The number of hospital deaths caused by coronavirus Covid-19 stood at 380, after 366 on Monday and 365 seven days ago. The total number of people who have lost their lives since the start of the epidemic now stands at 56,352 (including 38,739 in hospitals).
