PARIS (Reuters) – France reported on Saturday that 5,273 people were in intensive care units (ICUs) for COVID-19, an increase of 19 from the previous day, when the country entered its third national block to help with fighting the pandemic.
The government has been trying to contain COVID’s new cases with curfews and regional measures, but starting on Saturday and for the next four weeks, schools and non-essential businesses across the country will remain closed.
The increase in ICU patients on Saturday followed a much larger jump the day before – the biggest in five months, out of 145. President Emmanuel Macron promised more hospital beds to care for critically ill patients with COVID-19.
Macron hoped to pull France out of the pandemic without having to impose a third national blockade that would further shake the economy that still suffers from last year’s crisis.
But new strains of the virus have spread across France and much of Europe, amid a slower release of anti-COVID vaccines in the European Union than in some countries, including Britain and the United States.
Reporting by Sarah White and Blandine Henault; Gareth Jones edition; Gareth Jones Edition