Daily rate of coronavirus infections back to lockdown level in France

PARIS: France on Friday, July 31, registered 1,346 new coronavirus infections, taking the total count to 187,919 as the daily tally of new cases remained above 1,300 for the third day running, a level which was the last seen during lockdown. At the end of the first month of school holidays, with millions of French people traveling and mingling with friends and family not seen for weeks, the infection levels have risen back to last recorded in late April, when the outbreak has been in full swing and a strict lockdown was imposed.

The Ministry of Health, France said that the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 dropped by 77 to 5,298 and there has been a continuous fall from a peak of 32,292 on April 14. There was also a drop in the number of patients in intensive care by 10 to 371 and compared to a high of 7,148 on April 8.

The government allowed local governments to order the wearing of the face masks in open spaces as the country is facing a revival of COVID-19. However, while new infections have returned to lockdown and pre-lockdown levels, lesser people are dying or becoming critically ill compared to several months ago.

11 people have been succumbed to the deadly coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 30,265. France has recorded several days with more than 1,000 virus deaths in April , with a peak of 1,438 on April 15.