Key points

In week 11, circulation of SARS-CoV-2 continued to rise throughout French territories, while hospital admissions remained stable across all services.

• Metropolitan France:

  • Incidence rate increasing in all age groups,especially among older populations

  • Positivity rate very high and rising

  • Intensive care admissions and deaths decreasing

  Overseas France:

  • Incidence rate still high in Martinique (>1,000/100,000) despite a strong decrease

  • Incidence rate in Reunion Island high (>1,000) and slightly rising

Variants

• Omicron accounted for 99.9% of interpretable sequences in the Flash Survey of 7 March for week 10

• BA.2 sub-lineage in majority (73% in week 10)

Contact tracing

• Rise in the number of cases (+38%) and contacts (+24%)

• Cases more frequently report visiting public places conducive to virus transmission in the context of lifted restrictions

Prevention

• Vaccination on 21 March 2022 (Vaccin Covid data):

  • 79.4% of the French population had completed a primary vaccination series

  • 73.1% of the 18+ age group and 83.1% of the 65+ age group had received a booster shot

• Importance of combining measures:

  • Complete vaccination programme with a booster, including a second dose for eligible persons, especially those aged 80 and over, residents of nursing homes and people suffering from immunodeficiency

  • Maintaining protective measures such as wearing a mask, especially in closed areas or in the presence of vulnerable people, washing hands, and frequent ventilation of enclosed spaces