France sees nearly 9,000 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours
France registered practically 9,000 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the best daily figure since the pandemic swept into the country last March, the country's health agency said on Friday.
The total of 8,975 reported infections from Thursday to Friday came as authorities have increased testing capacities nationwide, but the caseload was still sharply above the 7,000 seen in recent days.
In addition, 53 new outbreak clusters were reported, and 46 patients were located in intensive care, bringing the existing total to 473.
As of Sept 1, France has registered 30,661 coronavirus deaths, according to the Sante Publique France health agency, which warned again on Thursday of an "exponential" upsurge in new cases.
It said the "R" rate of viral transmission remains at 1.3 nationwide, meaning 10 infected persons are infecting 13 others on average.
While a lot more than 90 % of fatal cases involve people over 65, "transmission is principally among young adults", Sante Publique said.
The most recent figures come as Paris and other cities have started requiring face masks in every public areas, including for children above 11 who returned to school this week.
But residents in a few cities have been pushing back, seeking eased mask rules in public areas, for example at night or in areas where crowds do not generally gather.
On Friday, a court in the southeastern city of Lyon ordered the authorities to soften the rules to take "local circumstances" into consideration, though for now the strict requirement remains in place. - AFP
