PARIS: New COVID-19 infections in France increased by more than 1,600 over 24 hours for the second consecutive day on Thursday, August 6. This spike placed the country at levels which had not been seen since late May and increased the number of COVID-19 patients admitted in intensive care units.
At 1604, the daily tally of new cases is lower than the 1,695 on Wednesday but not yet far from 1,828 cases reported on May 30. The total number of cases has reached 195,633. The seven-day moving average of new cases, now standing at 1,351, has increased by almost 50 per cent over this period on all but one day in the last 11 days. The 1,351 figure is five times higher than a low point of 272 seen on May 27 but also more than three times less than the April 1 peak of 4,537 cases.
Despite the increase in new cases, the number of people hospitalized for the disease continued to decline, extending a 10-week trend. The number of persons in ICUs however increased by 6, at 390 and reached a maximum of 10 days.
According to the French health authorities, seven additional deaths from COVID-19 have been confirmed, taking the total tally to 30,312, the seventh highest in the world.