An increasing trend. The number of people hospitalized and severe cases in intensive care due to covid-19 is rising again, according to data released Dec. 28 by Public health France.

Over the last seven days, the health agency has recorded an average of 12,000 new daily cases of contamination in France and 24,645 ongoing hospitalizations in the country, the highest since December 23.

And the authorities fear the arrival of a third wave in the weeks following the end of the year holidays. They are already observing a rebound in contamination throughout the eastern half of the country, in the Grand Est, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions.

Read also: Olivier Véran does not rule out a third confinement

The circulation of the virus is accelerating

In the Grand Est, and “particularly in Lorraine and Nancy (…) the circulation of the virus has accelerated sharply over the past two weeks, three weeks“, argued the mayor of Nancy, Mathieu Klein.

The weekly incidence rate of covid-19 has indeed increased in the Grand Est from 218.4 to 240.6 per 100,000 inhabitants between December 17 and 24, according to figures from Public Health France, against a weaker acceleration. , from 135.3 to 149.8, at the national level.

A local reconfinement in Nancy?

“Very worried“, Mathieu Klein mentioned a situation”very tense“in the hospital even before Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”In two weeks, at Nancy hospital, we went from 117 to 163 patients hospitalized for covid“, these now occupying”half of the intensive care beds“, he clarified.

For the elected official, a local reconfinement is therefore “inevitable“. However, it leaves it up to the State to set the perimeter, which could be that of the region or the metropolis. This possibility should be discussed on December 29 in defense council.

High incidence rate in the Alpes-Maritimes

In the south-east too, the situation is worrying. According to the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, the incidence rate in the Alpes-Maritimes department was 323 per 100,000 on December 27, more than double the national average.

This is why the elected representative asked for the application of a number of measures, including the reciprocity of quarantine between France and Italy, the restriction of travel between the Alpes-Maritimes and the Principality of Monaco – where hotels and restaurants are still open – and the systematization of PCR tests for travelers disembarking at Nice airport.

But for the moment, unlike the Grand Est region, the number of hospitalizations seems stable in the Alpes-Maritimes. Figures to watch closely, because health professionals fear that the situation will worsen because of the Christmas holidays.