PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2020) The number of COVID-19 cases in France has risen by 524 over the past 24 hours taking the total tally to 143,427 against the backdrop of gradual relaxation of quarantine measures imposed in the country to curb the pandemic, the French health authority, Sante Publique, said on Tuesday.
France began easing the two-month lockdown restrictions on May 11 with the reopening of schools, non-alimentary shops, cafes, restaurants and other public places in "green zone" regions less affected by the virus. The highly infected "red" regions, however, remain under the local authorities' strict surveillance.
Jerome Salomon, the head of the state health agency, said at a briefing on Tuesday that 18,468 COVID-19 patients remained in hospitals, 506 of whom were admitted within the past 24 hours. The number of hospitalized people decreased by 547 compared to the day before.
According to Salomon, the number of patients in intensive care units also continues to decrease. As of Tuesday, there are 1,894 people, which is 104 less than on Monday. More than 62,000 people fully recovered from the disease and were discharged from hospitals since the start of the outbreak.
However, Salomon did not provide new data on the number of coronavirus-related fatalities in France. On Monday, the heath authorities reported 28,239 deaths, while earlier on Tuesday, Sante Publique released data about 28,022 deaths. According to Le Parisien newspaper, the decrease of the death toll linked to an error that occurred during counting of the number of fatalities in medical and social institutions across the country.
