PARIS | The COVID-19 epidemic has resumed an “exponential” progression in France, with more than 7,000 new cases of infection recorded in 24 hours, the Directorate General of Health said Friday evening.
• Read also: All developments in the COVID-19 pandemic
“The dynamics of progression of the epidemic is exponential” in metropolitan France, warns the DGS in a press release, with 7379 new positive diagnoses recorded in the last 24 hours, against 6111 Thursday and 5429 Wednesday.
This is the highest figure since testing has been carried out on a large scale. The threshold of 4,000 has been crossed several times in recent days. The positive cases detected increase because of the circulation of the virus and because the number of people tested increases every day (893,146 tests carried out over the last “slippery” week).
The test positivity rate stood at 3.9% over the period between August 19 and 25, also increasing, against 3.8% from August 18 to 24 and 3.6% between August 15 and 21. August.
“Although remaining at limited levels, hospital indicators (new hospitalizations and intensive care admissions) are increasing, especially in regions where viral circulation is the most intense”, underlines the DGS, with a total of 4,535 people hospitalized (such as Thursday), including 387 serious cases in intensive care (+6 in 24 hours).
Since the start of the epidemic, 30,596 people have died in France, or 20 more in 24 hours, including 20,089 in hospitals and 10,507 (data from Thursday) in social and medico-social establishments.
The obligation to wear a mask is expanding, especially in large cities. The government said Thursday it wanted to “do everything” to avoid a “generalized reconfinement” devastating for the economy.