In a welcome development in efforts against coronavirus, French officials Saturday reported fewer deaths in the last 24 hours than the previous day, as well as fewer people in intensive care.
A total of 353 deaths were reported in hospital and 290 in nursing homes from Friday to Saturday, Jerome Salomon, France’s director general of health, told a daily press briefing.
13,832 PEOPLE DIED SINCE THE OUTBREAK STARTS
This made for a total of 8,943 deaths in hospital and 4,889 in nursing homes. Overall, 13,832 lives have been lost since the outbreak began. Hospitals can count 67,312 patients in total still in treatment.
Taking questions from reporters, Salomon urged the French to remain vigilant about their behavior to stem the virus’ spread, including practicing social distancing, washing hands thoroughly, and staying at home.
“The time is not for de-confinement, but to have strict respect for confinement, barrier measures, and gestures of physical and social distancing,” he said.
So far a full 26,391 people have returned home after recovering from the virus.
President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation on Monday evening to discuss the confinement and the economic situation. Despite recent progress against the virus, he is expected to extend the current confinement set to end April 15 through the end of the month, or perhaps lift it locally based on the region.
Worldwide, there are now a reported 1.75 million cases of coronavirus with over 107,000 reported deaths. Nearly 396,000 people have recovered from the coronavirus since the start of record-keeping, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.
