EPIDEMIC: The pressure on the hospital system increases again as coronavirus patients in intensive care rise
The number of people with coronavirus Covid-19 hospitalised in the intensive care units on Monday crossed the 2,800 people mark, for the first time since mid-December, marking an increase in the pressure on the hospital system, according to Health figures public France.
2,803 people are in the critical care services that welcome patients with the most severe forms of coronavirus Covid-19, 37 more than the day before, and with 254 new admissions in twenty-four hours. After having fallen sharply since the peak in mid-November, to 4,880 people in intensive care, this figure had stabilized around 2,600 patients since the end of December but has been rising steadily for a week.
Increase in hospitalisations
In total, 25,584 people positive for the coronavirus are hospitalised in France – or 349 more than on Sunday – including 1,666 new hospitalizations. The toll, which passed the 70,000 dead mark on Saturday since the start of the epidemic, continued to increase with 404 new hospital deaths recorded in the last twenty-four hours, bringing the total to 70,686 deaths. linked to coronavirus Covid-19.
However, only 3,736 new contaminations have been recorded since the day before, against more than 16,000 cases on Sunday, the figures for the start of the week still marking a low because fewer tests are carried out on weekends.
A stable positivity rate
The positivity rate, which measures the percentage of people positive for the Sars-CoV-2 virus among those tested, remained stable at 6.6%. France has been applying a general curfew at 6 p.m. since Saturday, fearing an epidemic rebound linked to the threat of new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus.
The number of contaminations has been on a high plateau of around 15,000 per day in recent weeks, while the vaccination campaign has only just begun. According to the latest figures provided by the Ministry of Health on Monday, 479,873 people have been vaccinated in France since the start of the campaign on December 27.
