PARIS (Reuters) – France reported a drop in new COVID-19 infections on Sunday for the fourth day in a row.
Ministry of health data showed that 19,175 new COVID-19 infections were diagnosed in the past 24 hours compared to 20,586 the previous day.
But the data also showed that the number of patients treated in hospital for the disease had risen to 27,694 from 27,369 the previous day, after a four – day decline. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care also rose, rising to 3,272 from 3,225 the previous day.
The government has opposed calls for a third lockout across the country from health experts who fear that infectious viral strains could soon overwhelm hospitals.
The government aims to restore high levels of pollution through evening curfews and stricter rules on overseas travel. His young transport minister said on Sunday that a ban on unnecessary travel to and from destinations outside the European Union had cut air passenger numbers down in a week.
But doctors are particularly concerned about emerging cases of various coronavirus that were first detected in Britain.
The variant could represent a majority of new cases from the beginning of March, Arnaud Fontanet, an epidemiologist and member of the government’s advisory group on COVID-19, told the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
France’s cumulative death tax in hospitals and nursing homes has reached 78,965, compared to 78,794 days earlier, health ministry data showed.
Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Caroline Pailliez; Edited by Alison Williams and Timothy Heritage