PARIS (Reuters) – The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units in France has fallen and the figure for patients in hospital has also dropped, the health ministry said on Saturday, in a sign pressure on the medical system is easing.
Health ministry data showed that 5,877 people were in intensive care units with COVID-19 on Saturday, 37 fewer than on Friday. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital fell by 143 to 30,329, the fifth consecutive drop this week.
France imposed a third nationwide lockdown this month to try to stem its third wave of infections.
The country registered 189 new daily coronavirus deaths in hospitals on Saturday, bringing the total for those deaths to 74,423. Overall, France’s COVID-19 death toll breached the 100,000 mark nationwide on Thursday, the eighth-highest worldwide.
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Frances Kerry)
