French coronavirus cases up again but number of intensive care patients falls

The number of new coronavirus infections over 24 hours in France rose again to 14,595 on Wednesday, from 13,713 on Tuesday and 14,064 last Wednesday, further crushing government hopes for a fall towards 5,000 per day, which the government has said is one of two key requirements to end a nationwide lockdown on Dec. 15.

The seven-day moving average of new cases - which reached a high of 54,440 on Nov. 7 - increased for the fifth day in a row and now stands at 11,369.

But the second key target, the number of people in intensive care, continued falling by another 47 to 3,041, bringing it close to a government target of 2500 to 3,000.

When France started its second nationwide lockdown on Oct. 30, there were 3,377 people in intensive care and that number kept rising to an autumn high of 4,919 on Nov. 11, after which it started falling again as the lockdown slowed the spread of the virus.

The number of people in hospital with the virus also fell again on Wednesday, by 356 to 25,558.

The health ministry also reported the number of people who died of COVID-19 in hospitals fell to 296 from 377 on Tuesday. The cumulative death toll now stands at 56,648, the total number of cases at over 2.3 million.