A health worker, wearing a protective suit and a face mask, prepares to administer a nasal swab to a patient at a testing site for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Paris, France, September 14, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The number of COVID-19 patients in France fell again on Wednesday, dipping by 370 to under 30,000 for the first time since early April, as its vaccination drive gathers pace.
The French health ministry also reported that the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care had fallen by 64 to 5,879. It recorded 315 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals, down from 325 on Tuesday.
The ministry also reported 31,539 new coronavirus cases, pushing the total to over 5.56 million, but the week-on-week rise fell further to 3.56% as the pace of new infections continued to decline from over 6% week-on-week in mid-April.
In October-November, week-on-week increases in cases were between 15 and nearly 30%, but fell below 4% after France’s second lockdown in November.
France has administered more than 20.9 million COVID-19 vaccinations since the end of December, including 14.8 million first injections, the health ministry said earlier in the day.
It said that 22.2% of the population and 28.3% of the adult population had now received a first shot against COVID-19.
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