French coronavirus death toll overtakes Spain's, now world's 4th largest
13 May, 2020
France's death toll from the coronavirus rose by 348 to 26,991 on Tuesday, overtaking Spain to become the united states with the world's fourth-highest number of fatalities following the USA, Britain and Italy.
Official data had showed France's coronavirus casualty rate trailing Spain's closely for many weeks, with both countries' tolls above 22,000 since April 24 and Spain's significantly less than 100 a lot more than France's over several days the other day.
On Tuesday the United States' COVID-19 death toll stood at 80,606, Britain at 32,065 and Italy at 30,911. Spain followed France with 26,920.
On the second day following the loosening of a strict nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus contagion, President Emmanuel Macron's government reiterated that it was prepared to tighten restrictions again if necessary.
Government "deconfinement" coordinator Jean Castex told lawmakers that the first 36 hours of the easing had opted as planned and that the largest challenge in maintaining social distancing as a bulwark against transmission of the virus was public transport in densely populated areas.
"We should consider the opportunity of reversing the finish of lockdown. If certain indicators deteriorate, we will tighten measures again, possibly on a regional basis," Castex said.
By the end of Monday, the federal government had already banned the intake of alcohol along the favorite Canal Saint-Martin area in eastern Paris, where sets of young persons eagerly socialized in close connection with each other, against the guidelines.
The national government can be keeping popular Paris parks like the Jardin du Luxembourg closed, despite calls from Mayor Anne Hidalgo to open them up to give Parisians - a lot of whom stay in cramped flats without balconies or terraces - more space to stretch their legs.
Medical ministry said in a statement the quantity of individuals in hospital with COVID-19 infections fell again to 21,595 from 22,284 on Monday, continuing an uninterrupted downward trend which has lasted four weeks.
The number of people in intensive care - an integral way of measuring a health system's capability to cope with the pandemic - also continued its downtrend, falling by 170 or 6.3% to 2,542, from a lot more than 7,000 in early April at the height of the crisis.
The quantity of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 708 to 140,227 on Tuesday, up from 456 on Monday. Including 37,988 probable cases, up 94, the full total number of confirmed and probable cases rose by 802 to 178,225, putting France in sixth place worldwide by that measure.
The government has said it'll consider locking down the country again if daily new infections rise above 3,000 again. In the past six days, the case count has increased by about 670 each day on average.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
TAG(s):