Key Points

Despite stable or declining indicators at the regional level, viral circulation remains very active and at a high level in certain areas of Occitanie.

• In Week 52, COVID-19 syndromic surveillance indicators (use of emergency care, visits to private practices) were stable at the regional level compared to Week 51.

• At the regional and departmental levels, virological indicators remained at high incidence levels; incidence rates were increasing in Aude, Lot, and Pyrénées-Orientales, and decreasing or stable in the other departments. Testing rates increased significantly in week 52 across all departments, and positivity rates continued to decline at all geographic levels and across all age groups (similar observations at the national level).

• The weekly numbers of new hospital admissions and admissions to intensive care units were decreasing and stable, respectively, at the regional level.

• Estimates of the effective reproduction number (R_eff) as of December 29 were not significantly higher than 1 in Occitanie.

• Regarding mortality data, the decline in the weekly number of deaths from all causes continued in week 51; however, the number of hospital deaths remained stable over the past two weeks.

• The trend in indicators was mixed in week 52, both geographically and across different data sources. Although a dominant trend toward stabilization, or even a decrease in indicators, emerged at the regional level, increases were observed locally, underscoring that viral circulation remains very active at a high level.