French logs ‘30,000 new cases in 24 hours’

(AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

France has recorded more than 30,000 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, Health Minister Olivier Veran has told MPs in the first time since August the number has exceeded that level.

On Monday – when new cases typically dip due to the weekend – France reported 5266 new cases, which was an increase of 63 per cent over the previous Monday, pushing the seven-day moving average of new cases to nearly 18,500.

“Today, we will announce 30,000 cases over 24 hours. That is a very major increase in the infection rate, which shows that we really are, unfortunately, in a fifth wave of the epidemic,” Veran said.

European stocks slumped to a three-week low on Tuesday, clocking their worst session in nearly two months, as a resurgence in COVID-19 cases raised fears of tighter restrictions.

France registered an overall record of 86,852 new cases per day on November 7, 2020, when the seven-day average also soared to a record 54,440.

Tuesday’s new cases tally will be published later in the day.

The number of patients in intensive care units in France on Tuesday rose to 1455, up by 49 from Monday.

New recorded COVID-19-related deaths rose by 84.

The 30,000 new cases will push France’s closely watched incidence rate – the number of new cases per week per 100,000 people – to more than 200 for the first time since the end of August.

(AAP)

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