The Hauts-de-France health authorities are worried. On Wednesday 10 February, they alerted to a worrying acceleration in the circulation of Covid-19 and in particular of the British variant.

Indeed, the incidence rates on the urban community of Dunkirk and the community of communes of Hauts-de-Flandre (…) respectively reach 485 and 424 cases per 100,000 inhabitants “(against 208 at the national level), indicates Wednesday Evening the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Hauts-de-France in a press release. In these municipalities, “the positivity rate of the tests reached 10%”.

“A systematic search for variants”

Since mid-January, the health authorities have carried out “a systematic search for variants” on the positive tests.

According to analyzes carried out Monday and Tuesday by a private laboratory, out of 1,367 tests carried out in Dunkirk, 172 were positive, including 117 revealing the presence of the British variant. “In Gravelinois, out of 305 PCR tests carried out, 32 were positive including 17 with the variant English.

The health authorities will organize next week “an exceptional screening campaign” in the sector.

“Very marked presence of the English variant”

“In Dunkirk, the penetration rate of the English variant is three times higher than the regional average, and six times higher than the national average”, alerted the mayor of the town Patrice Vergriete on Wednesday morning on his Facebook page, calling on the inhabitants ” with the greatest vigilance “.

Faced with this situation and the “very marked presence of the English variant”, “an exceptional screening campaign is being organized by the ARS and its partners in several municipalities in the sector. It will be offered to the population in the course of the process. next week, “the ARS statement added.

Saturated hospitals

“The reception here at the hospital has reached the alert level. Today, 55 patients are in fact hospitalized for Covid, nine are in intensive care, in a service which is now saturated, which required last weekend the transfer of ten patients to other hospitals in the region, “explains Patrice Vergriete in a short video shot at the hospital center.

The health authorities also intend to deploy in this territory “the new system of + anti-covid + mediators, which allows in the same place and at the same time to carry out tests, carry out contact tracing and deliver prevention messages”.