August 16, 2020
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s health ministry on Sunday reported 3,015 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, the second day in a row in which new cases have surpassed the 3,000 mark.
However, the daily count was below the 3,310 cases reported on Saturday that marked a post-lockdown high, the ministry’s data showed.
A sharp rise in cases in France has led the authorities in the country’s two biggest cities, Paris and Marseille, to expand zones where wearing a mask is mandatory outdoors, while the government is set to propose masks be worn in shared indoor workspaces.
The resurgence also prompted Britain to impose a 14-day quarantine for people arriving from France as of Saturday.
The number of coronavirus clusters being investigated in France had increased to 263, the ministry said in its a website update.
The number of people in hospital was up slightly at 4,860, adding to a rise recorded a day earlier, while the number of intensive care patients was unchanged at 376 after increasing the previous day, the ministry said.
France’s cumulative death toll from COVID-19 for hospitals and nursing homes had risen by one to 30,410, it said.
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Alison Williams and Barbara Lewis)
