Coronavirus in France: more than 60,000 cases in a …

With 60,486 infections in a single day, France set a record for new positives in the second wave of Covid-19 cases that crosses Europe. In addition, the Gallic country suffered 828 additional deaths in hospitals and geriatric residences. “If the virus continues to circulate at this rate, there is a significant risk of saturation of the healthcare system”, warned the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran. A week ago the president Emannuel macron announced the return to strict containment.

The death toll published by the health authorities includes 398 deaths on the last day in hospitals, to which are added 430 deaths since Tuesday in nursing homes and dependency centers, data that the French government updates on Tuesday and Friday.

In total, the number of deaths in France since the start of the epidemic stands at 39,865, while infections exceed 1.6 million, more precisely 1,661,853 million confirmed cases since March.

The number of people hospitalized rose to 28,979, 553 more than yesterday, and among them 4,331 are in intensive care unit (ICU), 434 more on the last day. With these figures, the country’s ICU beds are already 85.4% occupied.

“The second wave would be harder and longer than the first, with stabilization until mid-December,” explained Minister of Health Véran, who defended the need for containment which will last, in principle, until ‘on December 1.

Verán and the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon, stressed this Thursday that the positive rate is at 20.76% and the reproduction rate at 1.14, while it should be less than 1.

Next week, the two-week confinement period will be met, as President Macron planned to review the epidemiological situation to find out whether the reopening on adapted conditions of certain businesses deemed non-essential is the economy in light of the holidays.