France registers over 23,000 Covid cases in one day

Paris, March 10 : France on Tuesday reported 23,302 Covid infections over the past 24 hours, while the number of hospitalized patients continued to rise, piling pressure on hospitals.

Since the outbreak, 3,932,862 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in France, the world’s sixth-highest tally after the US, India, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to figures posted on the government’s epidemic information website, Xinhua news agency reported.

Six more persons were hospitalized for the virus infection in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 25,201, while 3,918 patients were in intensive care, up by 69 from Monday, marking its highest level since November 26.

In one day, the respiratory illness had claimed 368 lives, pushing the death toll to 89,301, the daily data showed.

So far, 3,996,329 people in France have received at least the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. The rollout focused first on elderly, highly vulnerable people and frontline medical staff and care workers.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in an increasing number of countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, 261 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide — 79 of them in clinical trials — in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the US, according to information released by the World Health Organization on March 5.

Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.