French COVID-19 data on a downward trend, but still at high level

The total number of people in hospital with COVID-19 also fell, by 315 to 30,281, a 17-day low, health ministry data showed. New infections went up by 30,317 over 24 hours but the 3.65% increase versus last Tuesday is the lowest week-on-week rise since Jan 2.

France's main COVID-19 indicators all showed some signs of improvement on Tuesday as French President Emmanuel Macron plans to relax COVID-19 restrictions in the next few days.

French health authorities said the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) fell by 58 to 5,943, after the ICU tally set a one-year high of 6,001 on Monday. The total number of people in hospital with COVID-19 also fell, by 315 to 30,281, a 17-day low, health ministry data showed.

New infections went up by 30,317 over 24 hours but the 3.65% increase versus last Tuesday is the lowest week-on-week rise since Jan 2. The seven-day moving of daily new infections fell to 27,856, standing below the 28,000 for the first time since more than a month.

France, the euro zone's second biggest economy, started its third national lockdown at the end of March after suffering a spike in COVID-19 deaths and case numbers. Macron is hoping the effects of that lockdown, along with an accelerated vaccination campaign, will lastingly improve France's COVID-19 figures, which would then allow certain businesses and leisure activities - such as outdoor dining - to reopen in mid-May.

Other health ministry figures showed almost 470,000 injections were administered over 24 hours on Tuesday, with 14.58 million people in France having received at least one COVID shot, representing 21.8% of the total population. Earlier in the day, Health Minister Olivier Veran said the South African variant of the COVID-19 virus was on the rise in the Paris area but also that no Indian variant has been detected in the country.

The COVID-19 death toll went up by 347, at 103,603, the eighth-highest in the world. The case count, at 5.53 million, is the fourth-highest globally.