France coronavirus death toll close to Spain's, still world's fourth highest

France registered a total of 21,340 deaths from coronavirus infections on Wednesday, an increase of 544 or 2.6%, the fourth-highest casualty tally in the world, but trailing just a few hundred behind Spain, which has a death toll of 21,717.

The number of people in French hospitals with COVID-19 fell by 365 or 1.2% to 29,741, the eight consecutive fall and more than 2,300 patients less than the high of 32,113 set on April 13, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The number of patients in intensive care units - the most important metric of a health system's ability to deal with the epidemic - fell by 215 or 4% to 5,218, the 14th consecutive decline. There are now nearly 2,000 people less in ICUs from the high of 7,148 set on April 8.