France’s Covid positivity rate — the percentage of tests that come back positive — is continuing to rise and has now reached 12.8%, the country’s health authority said on Monday evening.
The rate, a key indicator of how fast the virus is spreading, now stands at more than double what it was a month ago — 5.4% on September 12.
As of Monday night, 1,539 Covid patients were in intensive care in French hospitals. The last time the country had more than 1,500 Covid patients in the ICU was May 27, when the tally reached 1,501.
Paris: The capital is faring worse that the rest of the country, with an incidence rate of 413.2 cases per 100,000 in the city versus a national average of 166, according to the Paris region health authority.
More than 40% of ICU beds in the Paris region are occupied by Covid patients, well above the 30% threshold used to decide when areas or cities should be placed in the “maximum alert” category.
The Defense Council – a meeting of key ministers chaired by President Emmanuel Macron – is due to meet later Tuesday to discuss the next measures to be taken to slow the spread of the virus.
Government ministers have reiterated that all measures should be considered while the circulation of the virus continues to increase, including curfews and localized lockdowns.
No options are to be excluded, considering the situation we see in hospitals,” France’s Prime Minister, Jean Castex, said in an interview with CNN affiliate BFM-TV on Monday.
President Macron is expected to give a primetime television interview on Wednesday evening local time.