Key Points

In Week 16 (April 18–24, 2022), total activity at SOS Médecins clinics declined among 2- to 14-year-olds (-20%, or 3,333 fewer visits) and remained stable in other age groups.

Cases involving suspected COVID-19 decreased across all age groups for the third consecutive week. In total, 1,363 cases (vs. 1,660 cases in Week 15) were recorded across all age groups (a decrease of 18% vs. 17% in Week 15). The decline is mainly observed among 2- to 14-year-olds (-29%, or -96 cases) and 15- to 74-year-olds (-16%, or -188 cases), while a slight increase is observed among those aged 75 and older (+12%, or +11 cases).

Suspected COVID-19 has dropped to 10th place among 15- to 74-year-olds in the ranking of the most common conditions. At the regional level, emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 are down in all regions, with the exception of Corsica and French Guiana (stable) and Guadeloupe (+20%, or +8 visits) and Réunion (+14%, or +20 visits), which saw a slight increase.

Since monitoring began on March 3, 2020, 341,857 medical procedures for suspected COVID-19 have been performed.

Among other indicators, a sharp decline in procedures for influenza/flu-like syndrome (-39% across all age groups, or -3,596 procedures) is observed in all age groups; however, these numbers remain at a high level for the season. Among other indicators, we observe an increase in spring-related indicators: allergies (+16%, or +70 cases) and chickenpox (+26%, or +147 cases) among children, and conjunctivitis among those aged 15–74, at levels higher than in previous years (+38%, or +66 cases). Among adults, there was also an increase in visits for vomiting (+25%, or +52 visits) and a less pronounced increase for gastroenteritis (+5%, or +83 visits) and pneumonia (+9%, or +33 visits). Among those aged 15–74, there was also an increase in cases of urinary tract infection (+18%, or +205 cases), low back pain/sciatica (+18%, or +286 cases), and heart problems (+14%, or +18 cases) among those aged 75 and older.