More than 18,000 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in France in the past 24 hours.
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UGO AMEZ / SIPA
More than 18,000 new cases of Covid-19 contamination have been confirmed in the past 24 hours and "the evolution of the epidemic is worrying" in France, said the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon on Thursday.
Among the newly infected, President Macron, tested positive for the coronavirus.
Precisely 18,254 additional people tested positive, against 17,615 on Wednesday.
The test positivity rate is down very slightly to 6.1% (6.2% the day before).
The pressure on resuscitation services continues to ease slightly, since they welcomed 2,808 patients with Covid-19 on Wednesday, against 2,840 the day before.
Admissions were "over 150" in the past 24 hours, up from 220 the day before.
Less than 3,000 patients in intensive care
The number of patients in intensive care, useful for assessing the pressure on hospital services, had fallen below the 3,000 mark last Thursday for the first time since the end of October.
The total number of people hospitalized stands at 25,182 (including 1,362 new admissions), a figure down slightly from Tuesday (25,282).
The total number of deaths since the start of the epidemic in March amounted to 59,619 according to Jérôme Salomon, 258 more than Wednesday's figure.
"After a decrease then a plateau, a tendency to increase (contamination) has been observed for a few days", continued the number 2 of the ministry, and "this increase calls for the greatest vigilance in order to avoid an epidemic outbreak ".
He warned that winter was "a high risk season" for the spread of the virus and that with the end of confinement and the end of year celebrations "the effects of displacement, mixing of populations" also risked to be smelled.
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