PARIS | The number of new cases of COVID-19 contamination in 24 hours has exceeded 30,000 in France, for the first time since the launch of large-scale tests, according to figures from Public Health France released Thursday.
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The number of confirmed cases stands at 30,621, specifies the site of the health agency: a first since the launch of large-scale screening tests. The 20,000 case milestone was crossed on October 9 alone.
The test positivity rate (the proportion of positive people out of all those tested) has increased continuously, to 12.6% (12.2% on Wednesday).
The number of deaths attributable to the disease stands at 88 for the day of Thursday (104 the day before), bringing the total death toll since the start of the epidemic to 33,125.
For several days, new admissions to the intensive care units of hospitals have marked a clear increase: 171 patients on Monday, 226 Tuesday, 193 Wednesday and 219 Thursday, according to the SpF database. This indicator is one of the most closely monitored by the authorities, who fear a congestion of emergency and intensive care services.
The number of COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in intensive care stands at 1,741, or 77 more than the day before. Health Minister Olivier Véran said Thursday that France had 5,800 intensive care beds.
The daily number of intensive care admissions fell below 200 patients for the last time on April 21. The highest stood at 771 admissions on April 1, according to SpF.
At the peak of the epidemic in early April, more than 7,000 patients were hospitalized in intensive care, then the number fell sharply until the end of July. Since then, it has been rising steadily.
More details will follow …