PARIS (Reuters) – French health authorities reported 16,096 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, blowing away the previous record of 13,498 and setting a fourth all-time high of daily additional infections in eight days.
The number of people in France who have died from COVID-19 infections was up by 52, at 31,511, and the cumulative number of cases now totals 497,237.
The soaring infection rate and, with it, the renewed strain on the French hospital system have prompted the government to announce extra restrictive measures on Wednesday, mainly in big cities, to contain the disease.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
