One month after France ended its strict eight-week lockdown, there has been no rise in coronavirus cases as life returns towards normality, reports The Guardian.
The number of new Covid-19 cases continued to drop even as most of France reopened for business – while maintaining physical distancing and protection measures – with the number of additional deaths down to its lowest figure since March.
France’s health authorities say there are only 933 patients in intensive care with the virus across the country, down from a peak of 7,148 in April, and the number of new admissions to emergency units was 20 in the last 24 hours. This figure has not been above 50 in the last three weeks.
An estimated total of 29,319 people have died of Covid-19 in France in hospitals and care homes since the pandemic began – an increase of 23 deaths in hospital in the last day. Of this total, more than a third of deaths occurred in care homes, but the government has stopped updating the figures because of the difficulty of accurately establishing a cause of death.
Almost 72,000 people diagnosed with Covid-19 have recovered and been discharged from hospital.
Announcing the second phase of the lifting of restrictions at the end of last month, three weeks after the end of lockdown, the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, said the health figures were better than hoped for.