Iran Press/ Europe: At the height of summer, the Covid-19 virus is back in France with a vengeance. Far from having been eradicated, it is causing a moderate resurgence in the number of cases in France, particularly at large gatherings such as the fêtes de Bayonne (Southwestern France), which attracted 1.3 million visitors between July 26 and 30.
"We went from 20% positive cases the week before the festivities, to 35% the following week in the south of the Landes [Southwestern France] and in the Bayonne conurbation, and we're around 35% to 40% positive cases this week," explained Sébastien Boucher, President of Aquitaine-based laboratories Inovie-Axbio.
The resurgence of the epidemic, possibly linked to the emergence of a new variant, is also affecting the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan, among others – as far as the virus's monitoring systems, which have become very sporadic, allow us to track it. "Public authorities around the world have let their guard down with regard to Covid monitoring," complained Antoine Flahault, Director of the Institute of Global Health in Geneva. "We're currently unable to produce reliable estimates of incidence, hospitalizations and deaths, because we don't test anymore," or hardly at all, Le Monde reported.
"The incidence of Covid-19 cases presenting respiratory signs seen in GPs offices has been rising over the past three weeks," according to the official health agency Santé publique France (SPF) on August 7, noting that this incidence "remains at a low level." In the week from July 31 to August 6, it was estimated at 20 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or 13,404 new cases (margin of uncertainty: 8,708 to 18,100), according to the Sentinelles network. Two weeks and one week earlier, respectively, the figures were 10 and 14 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The rates of SARS-CoV-2 positivity among patients presenting with acute respiratory infection were 7%, 35% and 17% in the 0-14, 15-64 and 65+ age groups, respectively.
Eris is believed to be more transmissible than other strains of the virus circulating.
But according to the WHO, which is monitoring the variant, "based on the available evidence, the public health risk posed by EG.5 is evaluated as low at the global level".
The organisation says that Eris does not appear to cause more severe symptoms of Covid-19.
In its weekly update, the WHO said that nearly 1.5 million new Covid cases were reported worldwide from 10 July to 6 August, an 80 percent increase compared to the previous 28 days. However, the number of deaths fell by 57 percent to 2,500.
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