France coronavirus death toll now 23,203

The number of people who have died from coronavirus infection in France rose by 437 to 23,293 on Monday, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The 1.9 per cent increase is the highest in four days but well below the more than four per cent rate seen 10 days ago.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 infection fell further to 28,055 from 28,217 on Sunday and the number of people in intensive care fell to 4,608 from 4,682 on Sunday.

Both have been on a downward trend for more than 10 days.

However, the number of people dying from the pandemic dropped to its lowest level in over a month in the three European countries most impacted by the pandemic, official figures show.

Italian authorities said on Sunday that 260 people had succumbed to the disease over the previous 24 hours — the lowest daily increase since March 14.

In France, the daily death toll stood at 242 on Sunday, a level not observed since early March while in Spain, the number of fatalities dropped to 288, the lowest figure since March 20 and a sharp decline from the 378 registered on Saturday.

It comes as the country lifted some more restrictions on Sunday, allowing children to step outside of their house for the first time in six weeks.

More than 23,000 people have now lost their lives to the pandemic in Spain, the third-highest tally in the world after the U.S. and Italy.

But the authorities, who believe the worst is now over, have taken steps to ease one of the world’s toughest lockdowns imposed on March 14.

(NAN)