PARIS (Reuters) – France’s average daily number of new COVID-19 cases fell to its lowest level since mid-September while the number of people being treated for the virus in hospital continued to decline, official data showed on Wednesday.
The daily figure, averaged out over seven days, fell below 10,000, down from a 2021 high of over 42,000 in mid-April.
New confirmed infections rose by 12,646 over the past 24 hours to a cumulative 5.62 million since the start of the pandemic, a slower pace of growth than a week ago, when they rose by 19,000. Four weeks ago the figure was 31,000.
The number of people in intensive care units with COVID-19 fell by 117 to 3,330, while the overall number of people in hospital with the virus fell by 837 to 18,593. Both numbers have been on a steady downward trend since the end of April.
The health ministry also reported 144 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals on Wednesday, compared with 141 a week ago.
(Reporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Estelle Shirbon)
