France making progress against virus despite case surge

PARIS

France continued to make overall progress in its battle against the coronavirus Tuesday despite a surge in cases and a rise in fatalities.

Infections rose substantially to 13,713 from 3,411, but the number includes patients who succumbed to the disease in hospital and in nursing homes, according to the Ministry of Health.

Steady drops have occurred over the past few weeks, reflecting a general downward trend. Total infections since record-keeping began in March stand at 2,309,621.

Fatalities rose to 380 from 366 on Monday, with the official death toll since March standing at 56,352.

Hospitalizations fell by one case to 8,373. A total of 1,100 people remain in intensive care, down by 31 patients from the previous day.

The positivity rate in France dropped significantly to 6.4% from 10.7% the day before.​​​​​​​

Worldwide, the death toll from COVID-19 stands at over 1.5 million since the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China in December last year. The number of infections totals over 68 million with more than 43.7 million recoveries, according to the latest figures from US-based Johns Hopkins University.