Key points

In week 46, the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 accelerated markedly throughout metropolitan France, and the rise in new hospital and intensive care admissions escalated.

• Metropolitan France:

  • Increase in the incidence rate in all age groups and in all regions

  • Effective reproduction rate up sharply to 1.59

  • New hospital and intensive care admissions rising in most regions

• Overseas France:

  • High and increasing incidence rate in Martinique and Reunion Island

Variants

• Delta variant identified in more than 99% of sequenced samples in the Flash Surveys from week 43 (25-29 October) and week 44 (1-5 November)

Contact tracing

• Substantial increase in the number of cases and contacts

• Lower proportion of new cases linked to known transmission chains

Prevention

• Vaccination on 23 November 2021 (Vaccin Covid data):

  • 77.1% of the French population had received at least one vaccine dose, and 75.5% were fully vaccinated

  • 35.5% of people aged 65 years and older had received a booster shot, representing 73.3% of the eligible population inthis age group

• CoviPrev Survey, Wave 29 (28 October-5 November):

  • Slight fall in anxiety (23%, -3 points) and sleep disorders (66%, -4 points) since the previous wave (28 September-5October)

  • Rise in depression since July (17%, +4 points)

• Importance of combining measures: vaccination, including the booster shot for the eligible population, adherence to contact tracing, and respect of preventive measures