The governmental “testing, alerting, protecting” strategy is really showing. According to data recorded by Géodes – Santé Publique France’s analytical tool – a record has been set this Friday December 18, 2020 as to the number of tests conducted in the French territory. All in all, 502,528 tests have been conducted in 24 hours and led to 17,238 new positive cases.
A rather impressive record, especially once compared with data from last week. As of Friday December 11, 259,364 tests have bene conducted in France. We must say these data include RT-PCR tests and antigenic tests. Of course, this is a good way to notice efforts to deploy tests on a domestic basis as provided for by the government and the health authorities.
To explain this half-a-million-test- in 24 hours record, the pending arrival of the Holidays is a lead. The previous record was set on November 2, 2020 when 450,494 tests have been conducted leading to 70,063 new positive cases. As Christmas is coming, even though the government does not recommend to get tested and not think that a negative test could be a “immunity totem” – as suggested by Olivier Véran – many French people have decided to get tested before the Holidays to protect their families.
