France's coronavirus daily death toll rises again

The number of people who have died from coronavirus infection in France rose 243 to 26,230 on Friday, a higher daily death toll than the previous day when it stood at 178. The Health Ministry said in a statement that the number of people in intensive care units - a key measure of a health system's ability to deal with the epidemic - fell by 93 or 3% to 2,868, well below half the peak of 7,148 seen on April 8.

The number of people in hospital with coronavirus also fell again to 22,724 from 23,208, continuing an uninterrupted three-week fall and down 30% from an April 14 peak of 32,292. France will start lifting its almost two-months old national lockdown from Monday.