Daily coronavirus death toll in France slows to 441

A total of 441 people died from coronavirus infections in France over the past 24 hours, down from a high of 588 the previous day, the health ministry director said on Saturday.

The death toll in French hospitals and nursing homes since the start of the outbreak now stood at 7,560, Jerome Salomon told a news conference. The total number of coronavirus cases in France stood at 68,605 on Saturday, a 6.6% increase compared with the previous day.

Salomon added that 28,143 people were in hospital for COVID-19 infection. That number showed a net 711 more admissions compared with the previous day after 2,111 people were discharged. A total of 6,838 serious coronavirus cases were in intensive care units, he said. In the past 24 hours, 502 new cases were admitted in intensive care, compared with 641, the previous day and 729 on Thursday.

Pressure was easing on the need to find new space in intensive case, Salomon said. This trend was due to more people leaving, and was an important indicator of how hospitals were coping and using available resources. "The number of people that have recovered is also increasing rapidly, because we have 15,438 people who have come out of hospital cured, and thousands others who stayed confined at home and have also recovered," Salomon said.