As containment exit seems to be far behind us and life has started again, what about coronavirus in France? This is the question the Santé Publique France agency asks in its latest epidemiologic report released on Thursday July 9, 2020.
In concrete words, Santé Publique France is worried about “the circulation of the virus” that “tends to increase” in France, scientists say. Yet, they say that today, the “circulation of the virus remains at a low level”, but worry that “the increase of the incidence of Covid-19 cases, the increase in the number of cases, as well as the R effective that is significatively above 1” they say in the report.
But what is the “R effective” again? It is simply the index that enables to calculate the virus’ “reproduction rate”. It is used to measure the number of people one case will contaminate around them, based on a “virgin” population – that is not immune nor vaccinated. As soon as the R effective equals 1 – like the SPF says – each person contaminated will contaminate more people around them.
So, as the country was exiting containment, Health Minister Olivier Véran estimated the R effective was down to 0.6 in France. Today, we know thanks to scientists that in some French regions, the index “significatively” exceeds 1 the Agency says. The Pays-de-la-Loire, the Provence-Alpes-Côtes-d’Azur region, and the Nouvelle Aquitaine are the main areas of the resurgence of the virus.
Official website
www.santepubliquefrance.fr
