France reports 92 virus deaths, hospitalizations down

PARIS

Falling fatalities are a continued sign of improvement for the French as they emerge from the coronavirus epidemic in the latest statistics reported by the Health Ministry.

In week three of the the nation's de-confinement, a total of 92 fatalities was registered in hospitals on Tuesday, just one case lower than on Monday. The total number of fatalities in hospitals since the start of the outbreak is 18,195 and the total in nursing homes is 10,335.

Since the start of the outbreak, the death toll in France stands at 28,530 with cases of infection rising moderately to 145,555, up 276 cases over the previous day.

The number of hospitalizations dropped a good deal Tuesday with cases standing at 16,264, down from 534 patients the day before. Those in intensive care fell to 1,555, down 54 patients from Tuesday.

Despite the severity of the virus, most people experience mild symptoms before recovering. Since the beginning of record-keeping for the disease, 65,879 people have recovered in France from the epidemic and have returned home.

After originating in China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has spread to 188 countries and regions across the world. Europe and the US are currently the worst-hit regions.

The pandemic has killed almost 348,000 people, with total infections reaching almost 5.55 million, while almost 2.3 million people have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.