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The National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, approved in first reading a bill to extend the state of emergency in the country due to the coronavirus until February 16, BNR reported, citing AFP. The measure was supported by 71 deputies with 35 against.
The bill will be voted on by the Senate in Paris on Wednesday and its final approval by the National Assembly will likely be early next month. The state of emergency in France was restored by decree a week ago. However, for the measure to be extended for more than a month, it must be covered by law.
The project provides opportunities to extend the restrictions until April 1. This period covers regional and local elections in France, if not postponed, a sensitive issue in the country. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country exceeded one million. France is only the seventh country in the world to cross this threshold and the second in the European Union after Spain.
In the last 24 hours, France registered a new daily record of new infections: 45,422 people in the last 24 hours. 138 people died from the disease during this period. Almost 2,500 people with COVID-19 in the country are in intensive care. Currently, there are about 5,800 beds in intensive care units in France for patients with the disease caused by the new coronavirus. However, their number could rise to 7,700 in less than 15 days, Health Minister Olivier Veran said.
France
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