PARIS (Reuters) – France reported a drop in new COVID-19 infections on Sunday for the fourth consecutive day.
Ministry of Health data showed that there were 19,175 new infections confirmed by COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, compared with 20,586 the previous day.
But the data also showed that the number of patients in hospital treatment for the disease increased to 27,694 from 27,369 the day before, after a four-day decline. The number of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care has also increased, from 3,225 to 3,272 the day before.
The government has resisted calls for a third national blockade of health experts who fear that more contagious variants of the coronavirus may overwhelm hospitals soon.
The government plans to control the high rates of contamination through a night curfew and stricter rules on trips abroad. His transport minister said on Sunday that the ban on non-essential travel to and from destinations outside the European Union cut the number of air passengers in half in a week.
But doctors are particularly concerned about the increase in cases of a variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain.
The variant may represent the majority of new cases since the beginning of March, Arnaud Fontanet, an epidemiologist and member of the government advisory body on COVID-19, told Le Journal du Dimanche.
The cumulative number of deaths in hospitals and nursing homes in France reached 78,965, compared with 78,794 the previous day, data from the Ministry of Health showed.
Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Caroline Pailliez; Editing by Alison Williams and Timothy Heritage