Key Points

Increase in virological and hospital indicators in Occitanie; local viral circulation is intensifying across the region

• In Week 1, COVID-19 syndromic surveillance indicators (use of emergency care, visits to private practices) were on the rise regionally compared to Week 53.

• At the regional and departmental levels, virological indicators (incidence and positivity rates) continued to rise and were at high levels, particularly in certain metropolitan areas. Testing rates were also on the rise after having dropped sharply over the past two weeks. These trends were observed across all age groups, particularly among people under 30 (similar observations at the national level).

• Weekly numbers of new hospital admissions and admissions to intensive care units were rising at the regional level and in most departments.

• Estimates of the effective reproduction number (R_eff) for Occitanie were, as of January 13, above 1 and significantly so for the SI-DEP and SI-VIC sources, while they were not significant for estimates based on OSCOUR®.

• Regarding mortality data, the weekly number of deaths from all causes observed in the region was stable in week 53, and no further significant excess of deaths was recorded at the departmental level. The number of hospital deaths also remained stable in week 1.

• Virological and morbidity indicators were on the rise in week 1, as had already been the case the previous week. This trend confirms that viral circulation is intensifying in the region and particularly in certain areas (localized resurgences). Virological indicators were at high levels in Week 1, similar to those observed in the first half of October 2020, during the rising phase of the second wave of the epidemic.