France sees over 2,500 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours
More than 2,500 new coronavirus cases were registered in France in a day in the sharpest increase since May, government data showed on Wednesday, as officials said indicators were "clearly worsening."
Of 600,000 tests in the last week, a lot more than 11,600 were positive, medical ministry's DGS public health division said.
At 2.2 %, the weekly rate of positives was up from 1.6 % the week before, confirming "increased viral circulation", it added.
"Indicators used for tracking the epidemic on French territory have evidently worsened in recent days," the DGS said.
With August traditionally a month when many French persons take weeks of summer holiday, "it's imperative that we continue our efforts in order to avoid the epidemic picking right up again, individually and collectively, everywhere and all the time", the DGS said.
Health officials identified 18 new virus clusters during the past 24 hours, bringing the full total to 896 nationwide.
However the number of patients in intensive care dropped slightly to 379, an even relatively steady since late July.
Almost 30,400 persons have died of coronavirus in France since the epidemic began, the third-heaviest toll in Europe after Britain and Italy. - AFP
