Graph: See how Covid-19 cases are rising in France

A surge of Covid-19 is underway in France, with the current number of cases at least double that of previous months this year. 

Between September 15 and 21, 32,610 new cases were recorded in France, over 6,000 more than the week before, announced Santé Publique France in a health bulletin.

It means that at the start of the week, close to 50 in every 100,000 people in France had Covid-19. 

Prior to this, numbers were well under 25 cases per 100,000 except for at the end of August.

Cases are most prevalent amongst the 15 - 64 age bracket. 

A 37% increase in hospital visits for suspected Covid-19 cases was also recorded over the timeframe. 

However, health authorities were quick to reassure that hospitalisations for other illnesses such as flu and bronchitis were mostly stable in France. 

The rise in cases is thought largely due to a new variant of Covid-19 known as XFG or ‘Frankenstein’. 

France’s autumn/winter vaccination campaign is scheduled to start mid-October.