At the hospital Purpan, attendance at the medical biology laboratory is on the rise and, with it, the waiting time for a PCR test. “We had more than 2000 people between Saturday and Sunday”, testifies Françoise Estrier, administrative framework of LMB. “On a had until 1 h 40 in line ofwaiting saturday morning to be tested ”. In question, the fifth and sixth waves which hit the country, but also the closure of laboratories, during the weekends. “We are the only ones open at the end of the week, so people who want to be tested come to us.”

This Monday, at the beginning of the afternoon, the queue was shortened. But nearly 400 people, all the same, have already been tested. “We should reach 700, which remains high”, adds Françoise. Estrier. In line, many come to be tested after the Christmas reunion. Most of them are contact cases: “I have a friend of the family who just sent me a message to let me know that he had the covid. I had dinner with him on Saturday, so I’m coming to get tested, ”explains a 60-year-old. * A little further on, a mother comes to be tested accompanied by her young son: “His mother-in-law is positive. to covid, therefore it is case of contact since he made Christmas with his father. We come to be tested to find out if we have been contaminated in our turn. We’ll see… “

However, the laboratory does not yet experience a “Christmas effect”, as Professor Jacques explains. Izopet head of virology and infectious diseases at the Toulouse University Hospital: “It will come by the weekend. Note, on the other hand, a growing proportion of the variant Omicron in positive tests, around 40% at present. We should even reach 70% of positive tests to variant this, before the end of the year. With New Years Day approaching, there is little doubt that laboratory attendance will increase again in early January.