France becomes fourth country with more than 20,000 COVID-19 deaths

France has officially registered more than 20,000 deaths from COVID-19, becoming the fourth country to pass that threshold. Italy, Spain and the United States have also registered more than 20,000 deaths.

The death toll was now higher than that of the heat wave in the summer of 2003.

An encouraging signal has, however, been a decline for the sixth day in a row in people hospitalised for COVID-19, even though the total, at 30,584 versus 30,610 on Sunday, is going down only slowly. The number of people in intensive care had fallen for the 12th consecutive day, to 5,683 -- the lowest since March 31, suggesting the national lockdown is having positive effects in containing the disease.

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The number of confirmed cases increased by 1.8 per cent in France to 1,14,657 and possible cases in nursing homes were up 1.1 per cent at 40,726, for a total of 155,383, up 1.6 per cent in 24 hours after a 0.7 per cent increase on Sunday.

France is due to start unwinding some confinement measures from May 1.