Coronavirus: Nearly 24,000 new cases and 348 deaths in 24 hours (Illustration) -

FRED SCHEIBER / SIPA

The epidemic pressure linked to the coronavirus remained strong Thursday in France, with nearly 24,000 new contaminations and a high level of admissions to hospitals and intensive care units, while the government is preparing the ground for stricter measures.

Over the past twenty-four hours, 23,770 cases of Covid-19 infection have been recorded, against 22,848 last Thursday, according to Public Health France.

Just over 141,000 people tested positive last week, an average of around 20,100 per day, up from 128,000 the week before, or a daily average of 18,300.

Nearly 75,000 deaths since the start of the epidemic

The positivity rate of people tested has been stable for several days, at 7.1%.

With 348 new deaths recorded in hospital in twenty-four hours, the disease has now killed 74,800 people, including 52,562 in hospital and 22,238 in nursing homes or in medico-social establishments, since the start of the epidemic.

Hospitals recorded 11,219 new hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients over the last seven days, against 11,271 on Wednesday.

Among them, 1,800 had to be admitted to an intensive care unit, against 1,789 the day before (total over seven days).

All the usual figures communicated by Public Health France and the government were not available Thursday evening, for the second consecutive day.

New restrictions to come

The government is preparing the spirits for new health restrictions, including a possible third confinement, after having noted that the curfew at 6 p.m. was not enough in the face of the more contagious variants of Covid-19.

Emmanuel Macron could announce these measures this weekend or Monday, which will be the subject of a debate and a symbolic vote in Parliament next week, we learned from several politicians who participated in meetings Thursday with Prime Minister Jean Castex.

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