New coronavirus cases in France hit record 20,339
There has also been an increase in hospital admissions and intensive care admissions, which France's health agency has described as "concerning".
The number of coronavirus cases in France continues to increase, with the latest figures taken between Thursday and Friday (October 9) showing the highest recorded number of daily cases since the pandemic began.
This takes France’s total cases up to 691,977, the second highest in Europe after Spain.
The number of new hospital admissions, particularly intensive care admissions and deaths in hospitals, is also increasing. There are 1,439 people in intensive care, 21 more than the day before, which is also a record since May.
“Of particular concern, in the past five weeks, the number of cases has doubled among people of 65 to 74 years of age and increased 2.2 times among those 75 years of age and older, who are more susceptible to serious forms of the disease,” Santé Publique France stated in its weekly coronavirus update.
In the past 24 hours, there were 62 more deaths linked to Covid-19, taking France’s total number of deaths due to the virus up to 32,630.
There was also an increase in the rate of test positivity (proportion of positive people out of all those tested), which for the first time exceeded 10%, at 10.4%.
Santé Publique France did say that despite the worrying numbers, “at a national level, new hospitalisations, intensive care admissions for COVID-19 and the number of deaths remain at moderate levels compared to the situation observed in March-April 2020”.
“But the increase in the circulation of the virus, particularly among the elderly, gives rise to fears of continued hospitalisations and deaths in the coming weeks,” the health agency warned.
Health Minister Olivier Véran announced Thursday that four more cities - Lille, Lyon, Grenoble and Saint-Etienne - have been placed on the maximum alert level. They join Marseille-Aix, Paris and Guadeloupe.
Read more about coronavirus in France:
Covid-19 France: More cities on ‘max alert’ amid new rules
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