France sees 40,558 new COVID-19 cases, 385 more deaths

Source: Xinhua| 2020-11-05 05:16:37|Editor: huaxia

PARIS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- France reported 40,558 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, higher than 36,330 registered a day before, health authorities data showed.

The new infections pushed the national tally since the epidemic outbreak to 1,543,321.

A further 385 people have died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative fatalities to 38,674.

According to figures posted on the government's coronavirus information website, the number of hospitalized patients jumped by 1,269 to over 27,000. Meanwhile, COVID-19 patients have occupied 4,089 resuscitation beds, a single-day rise of 211.

"In France, the epidemiological situation continues to deteriorate with a sharp increase in national indicators, marking a significant acceleration of the COVID-19 epidemic across the country," Public Health Agency warned.

It warned that hospital admission and the number of coronavirus-related fatalities would still increase in the next weeks.

The agency reiterated the necessity of respecting barrier gestures and reducing social contacts, as "these individual measures, coupled with the collective rules, are currently the only means to curb the virus circulation."

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a national lockdown effective from Oct. 30 till Dec. 1. He expected that the confinement would help reduce the daily number of COVID-19 infections to 5,000.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines. Enditem

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