France sees number of coronavirus deaths rise above 10,000, with almost a third of fatalities occurring in old people’s homes
- France has recorded 1,417 new deaths, bringing the total from 8,911 to 10,328
- Care home deaths make up 3,237 of those deaths, with 7,091 in hospitals
- Total number of infections went up by 3,777, rising from 74,390 to 78,167
France’s coronavirus death toll soared past 10,000 last night after hundreds more deaths were announced in hospitals and care homes.
The tally of fatal cases went up by 1,417, rising from 8,911 to 10,328, making France the fourth country after Italy, Spain and the US to have a five-figure death toll.
France has added thousands of deaths to the count in recent days after it started including partial data from nursing homes in its calculations.
Those care home deaths make up 3,237 of the total 10,238 (31 per cent), with 7,091 deaths recorded in hospitals.
The total number of infections increased by 3,777, bringing the total from 74,390 to 78,167.
French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing a protective face mask, talks with health workers as he visits a medical center in Pantin near Paris yesterday
A woman walks her dog on a Paris bridge yesterday, with the Eiffel Tower seen in background, during the nationwide confinement to counter the epidemic
A lone jogger runs past police as he makes his way on the Champs de Mars in Paris during lockdown
Jerome Salomon, head of France’s public health authority, said the pandemic was still expanding in France despite four weeks of lockdown.
But he said the number of serious coronavirus cases being treated in intensive care units had risen by only 0.8 per cent in the previous 24 hours. This rate has fallen for eight days in a row.
‘The need to find new ICU places is less urgent. But the balance of additional patients needing care remains positive, which means the pandemic is still expanding’, Salomon said.
France is closely monitoring progress in Italy, where Europe’s longest lockdown has brought the rate of new infections down to a record low.
French prime minister Edouard Philippe said the unwinding of the lockdown, which at this stage is supposed to run until April 15, would not ‘happen overnight’.
The deserted Seine river banks pictured in Paris on Tuesday. France today banned all physical exercise in Paris during daylight hours as part of its ever-stricter coronavirus lockdown
A jogger stretches in front the closed entrance of the Orsay Museum in Paris during a lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease on Tuesday
The measures were tightened yesterday when Parisians were banned from outdoor physical exercise during daylight hours.
Joggers and walkers were told they would be fined the equivalent of around £120 if found breaking the restrictions.
If they continue to infringe the conditions, then they will face up to six months in prison.
A police statement reads: ‘From April 8, 2020, outings for individual sports activities will no longer be authorized between 10am and 7pm throughout the Paris area.
‘They therefore remain authorised from 7pm to 10am, when the crowds in the streets are at their smallest.’
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, and Didier Lallement, the police prefect, said in a joint statement that they had taken the decision to avoid ‘any form of laxity’ that would ‘jeopardise the efforts made so far’.
Paris is now France’s coronavirus epicentre, with cases in the city and its suburbs multiplying.
Fines worth some £650million have so far been handed out to those breaking lockdown conditions across the country.
A jogger runs past the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars, in Paris on Tuesday. Paris is now France’s coronavirus epicentre, with cases in the city and its suburbs multiplying