According to the latest assessment of the coronavirus epidemic published by Public Health France, the new contaminations are still much higher than the objectives posted by the government, with nearly 16,000 cases in 24 hours.

The total number of victims of the epidemic stands at 67,750 dead.

Nearly 16,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours, according to data released Sunday by Public Health France, a figure still far from the government's target of going down to 5,000 cases per day.

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 was 15,944 on Sunday, up from 20,177 on Saturday.

Since Tuesday, the average number of contaminations has been 18,000 per day.

This data has varied a lot since mid-December, oscillating between 3,000 and more than 25,000.

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151 new deaths in 24 hours

The positivity rate, which measures the percentage of people positive for Covid-19, continues to increase to 6.5% against 6.3% on Saturday.

It was still at 5.2% a week ago.

The number of hospitalized Covid patients stands at 24,526 against 24,240 on Saturday, with 729 new hospitalizations in one day.

In intensive care, the number of patients is 2,620 (+118 in 24 hours), against 2,600 the day before.

Hospitals recorded 151 new deaths in 24 hours, against 171 the day before, bringing the total toll of the epidemic to 67,750 deaths in France.

The next two weeks will be crucial for these indicators, according to experts who fear likely fallout from the holiday season.

Added to this are the concerns raised by the detection of cases linked to the British variant to the coronavirus, deemed to be more contagious.

23 departments in the east and south-east of France have been under curfew from 6 p.m. since Sunday in an attempt to stem the resumption of the epidemic in the territory.