France's fourth wave Covid ICU peak expected within ‘a few days’

Covid cases in French ICUs are on the rise, but will peak at less than in the spring, where hospitals like the Charles Nicolle public hospital in Rouen, were overwhelemd. © Christophe Ena/AP

The number of Covid patients in French ICUs is on the rise but could peak in the next few days, according to the country's health minister, avoiding the over-saturation of hospitals seen in the late spring. But he warned that those returning from holidays in the south could spread the virus even more

Just over 2,000 Covid patients are being treated in intensive care units, and Health Minister Olivier Veran said the number could peak in the next few days, before stabilising.

“This means we avoid saturating hospitals and then we can hope for a reduction,” he said on BFM television.

But he said that those returning from holidays in the south of France, where the virus has made a strong comeback, could bring infection levels back up in areas that have been relatively untouched this summer.

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Overseas France

The rise in hospitalisations and deaths is particularly high in France’s overseas territories.

Daily Covid deaths in French Polynesia have risen sharply, with 54 people dead over this weekend.

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Hospitals are full in the Caribbean departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique, where vaccination rates are low.

Veran said it highlights the difference between areas where most people are vaccinated, like mainland France, and those where they are not.

Vaccination and boosters

"The main urgency is for the remaining 15 per cent of French people to get vaccinated,” said Veran, who said the low national ICU numbers show the efficacy of vaccines and the controversial health pass.

Despite high-profile anti-vaccine demonstrations, over 70 per cent of the population, or nearly 48 million people, have received at least one of two doses since the start of France’s Covid immunisation campaign.

France’s National health authority (HAS) on Tuesday recommended a third booster for elderly people and those at risk of serious Covid cases starting in September, at the same time as the yearly flu vaccine campaign gets underway in France..

"The HAS proposes a booster dose of mRNA vaccine for people aged 65-years-old and over and for people with conditions that increase the risk of serious forms of Covid-19," the authority wrote in a statement.

(with wires)