France’s coronavirus-linked deaths slowed for a second day on Saturday and the number of intensive-care patients fell to the lowest in a week, reports Bloomberg.
Coronavirus infections rose by 4,785 to 129,654, the smallest increase in three days, Director General for Health Jerome Salomon said at a briefing in Paris. Deaths since the start of the outbreak reached 13,832, an increase of 635 from the toll reported Friday.
“Now is not the time to end confinement,” Salomon said. “The pressure on hospitals remains very high.”
France started including partial data from nursing homes this month, after underreporting the severity of the outbreak in the prior weeks, making for volatile reporting over the past 10 days.
French President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation on Monday about extending confinement measures that started more than three weeks ago. Spain and Germany on Saturday reported the smallest increases in deaths linked to the coronavirus in more than a week, and officials say the figures show lockdowns are working and are warning against relaxing restrictions too soon.
The number of ICU patients — viewed by Salomon as a gauge of the outbreak’s intensity — dropped for a third consecutive day after falling for the first time on Thursday. Salomon said 6,883 coronavirus patients remained in intensive care on Saturday, more than the 5,000 ICU beds available at the start of the outbreak, before France scaled up its capacity to more than 8,000 beds.