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As France completes the first week of “la rentrée”, when children return to school and adults return to work, the public health service has reported another increase in daily new coronavirus infections, at levels comparable to the height of the epidemic in March.
For the second day in a row, France registered more than 7,000 new cases of Covid-19.
The Health Ministry said Thursday that 7,157 new cases had been registered, up from Wednesday’s tally of 7,017. More than 40 new groups were registered each day.
Hospitalizations also continued the upward trend, as 57 more people were admitted to intensive care, bringing the number to 464.
More than a million tests have been performed in the last week alone, bringing the total number of tests to more than 8 million (11 percent of the population) since the start of the pandemic.
Globally, a total of 26 million cases of Covid-19 have been recorded, resulting in more than 873,000 deaths. The United States, Brazil and India top the list, with the United States being by far the most affected country, with more than 6.3 million cases on September 3.
Second wave
France has more than 300,000 registered cases and 30,706 deaths.
The “second wave” of infections currently affecting France is affecting more people than during the first peak of infections in March.
On March 31, the highest number of daily infections recorded was 7,578 cases. In the 6 days since August 28, the 7,000 mark was broken three times.
The French government announced on Friday that it had closed 22 schools in metropolitan France and the overseas territory of Reunion due to new outbreaks.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer insisted that going back to school went well for the vast majority, but parents’ associations are concerned that too much is left to the families.
“The health protocol is working,” Blanquer told Europe 1 radio on Friday morning, which marks the end of the first week since the new school year began.
