PARIS (Reuters) – France reported a drop in new COVID-19 infections on Sunday for the fourth day in a row.
Data from the Ministry of Health showed that there had been 19,175 new infections confirmed by COVID-19 in the last 24 hours compared to 20,586 the previous day.
But the data also show that the number of patients treated in hospital for the disease had risen to 27,694 from 27,369 the day before, after a four-day decline. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care also increased, from 3,225 the day before to 3,272.
The government has resisted a request for a third blockade nationwide by health experts who fear that more contagious coronavirus variants could soon overwhelm hospitals.
The government aims to curb high pollution rates through a curfew in the evening and tougher rules on travel abroad. His minor transport minister said on Sunday that a ban on non-essential travel to and from destinations outside the European Union had halved the number of air passengers in a week.
But doctors are especially concerned about the rise in cases of a coronavirus variant first detected in Britain.
The variant could account for most new cases since early March, Arnaud Fontanet, an epidemiologist and member of the government’s advisory body on COVID-19, told Le Journal du Dimanche.
The cumulative death toll from France in hospitals and nursing homes has reached 78,965, compared to 78,794 the day before, according to data from the health ministry.
Report by Gus Trompiz and Caroline Pailliez; Edited by Alison Williams and Timothy Heritage