‘Real risk’ of second wave of Covid-19

A second wave

“It could start off again in France, or elsewhere,” Professor Jean-François Delfraissy told an inquiry into the handling of Covid-19. “That’s why we have to be very attentive to barrier measures, because for now there’s no really effective treatment and no vaccine.” He said, however, that a new general confinement would be “impossible and undesirable for economic and social reasons”.

New Covid-19 clusters

A total of 216 new Covid-19 clusters were reported in mainland France in the latest figures available (June 16) since the end of lockdown. Health authorities say cases are mainly under control but issued a warning to remain vigilant. Thirty cases were in Sarcelles (Val-d’Oise). Professor Didier Raoult, the infectious diseases expert who championed anti-viral drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat coronavirus, has also warned of a possible new wave. He said we should watch New Zealand as it has similar conditions to France and is entering its winter season.

France deconfinement: What opens June 22, in July and beyond

Treatment trials

France has been considering whether to resume trials of the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 as part of the European Discovery tests after doubt was cast on the reliability of a study in British journal The Lancet, which said it caused increased deaths. The article influenced France to ban it as a treatment. The WHO removed the drug from its Solidarity trial, saying it did not reduce mortality, based on its own results and the UK’s Recovery trial.

France leads the way with vaccine trials