219,126 new confirmed cases have been reported by French health authorities in the last 24 hours, marking the fourth-straight day when more than 200,000 cases have been reported.
On Saturday, official data released by the French government revealed that France had reported more than 10 million COVID-19 infections since the outbreak of the pandemic. In addition to the United States, India, Brazil, Britain, Germany, and Russia, France had over 10 million cases.
Emmanuel Macron, French president, said the next couple weeks will be challenging when he announced Saturday’s figure. It was the second highest number after 232,200 on Friday. The French president did not mention any need for alternative health measures to those already announced in his New Year’s Eve speech, adding that the government should refrain from further restricting personal freedoms.
Earlier on Saturday, the government announced that masks would be mandatory for children as young as six, whereas they were only required for children as old as 11. Many big cities, including Paris and Lyon, now require that everyone wears masks in the street.
In France, the seven-day moving average of new cases, which smooths out daily reporting irregularities, increased to 157,651 in just one month – an increase of nearly fivefold.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have jumped by 96 over the past 24 hours, reaching their highest level in more than seven months at 18,811, yet this remains less than half the record 33,497 hospitalizations reported last November. In the past 24 hours, COVID-19 deaths have increased by 110 to 123,851, the 12th highest death toll ever recorded. The seven-day moving average of new daily deaths has reached 186, the highest since May 14.
