PARIS 

France's Health Ministry on Thursday reported another positive day of declining numbers in the battle against the novel coronavirus.

There were 516 fatalities on Thursday, with 311 of those in hospital and 205 in nursing homes. Since the start of the outbreak, the total deaths in hospital stands at 13,547 while 8,309 people succumbed to the disease in nursing homes.

On Wednesday, 29,219 hospitalizations were reported, a drop of 522 from Wednesday. The number of those in intensive care fell to 5,053, a drop of 165 patients. The number of cases of total infection stands at 120,804.

Since record-keeping started at the beginning of March, fatalities from the coronavirus outbreak in France stand at 21,856, while 42,088 people have returned home after recovering fully from the disease.

President Emmanuel Macron held a videoconference with mayors of major cities on Thursday to discuss issues surrounding exiting the lockdown on May 11. The meeting included the Association of Mayors of France, who held the distribution of masks, reopening of schools, and matters of public conduct as the most important issues.

Worldwide, over 2.68 million cases of coronavirus have occurred with over 187,000 reported deaths. Recovery is very possible, even for those once very sick, as some 732,000 people have now recovered from the coronavirus since the start of record-keeping for the outbreak, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the severity of the virus, most people experience mild symptoms and recover in due time.