PARIS (Reuters) -France reported 5,797 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, down from 12,799 on Sunday but up sharply from last Monday’s 3,063, health ministry data showed.
The new cases pushed the country’s total number of infections resulting from the new coronavirus to 2.48 million.
There were also 351 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 60,900, compared to 131 deaths on Sunday.
The number of people in hospital with the virus rose for the second day in a row, by 240 to 25,233, while the number of people in intensive care units (ICU) fell slighty by 8 to 2,746 after rising by 27 on Sunday.
The number of people in ICU – which is the best measure of a health system’s ability to deal with the virus – is well within government targets of 2,500 to 3,000.
But the seven-day average of daily new cases still stands at 14,177, nearly three times the level of 5,000 per day that the government has said is a condition for further easing of measures to reduce the spread of the virus.
France is under curfew and restaurants, bars, museums and other cultural venues remain closed.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Writing by Matthieu Protard; editing by Mark Heinrich and Barbara Lewis)
