“We do not want to hide anything” Olivier Véran said this afternoon at the National Assembly. Since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic in France, the government has been sharing the number of deaths related to the virus in hospitals and nursing homes every day. Yet, each report so far does not include deaths at home. The Health Minister has first denied rumors having the State was looking to cut down the real death toll of the Covid-19 epidemic in France. “It would be useless and means nothing” he justified.
But when will these numbers be revealed? According to the Health Ministers, the toll will be known by June 2020. Indeed, statistics are late because these are numbers “harder to assess” he said to the National Assembly. “It’s Santé Publique France that is in charge of assessing, we are just passing on. It requires to treat all death certificates (digital or not) and have statistics per territory that are meaningful” Olivier Véran added.
While waiting to know these numbers, Santé publique France has already launched a first alert as on the possible abnormal mortality rate at home. The Health Minister says these deaths are not always linked to coronavirus, but to medical complications of people suffering from chronic disease and who did not go to the hospital. That way, the Minister reminded how important it is for people to consult a doctor if need be. As for the union trade of general practitioners in France, they think 9,000 people died at home. An estimation that would worsening the dark death toll in France, one of countries the most badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
