PARIS - Coronavirus cases are rising far more quickly in France than in other European countries, it has been reported.
It recorded almost 9,000 new cases on Friday, the biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic in March. That rise is almost twice as high as in Spain and four times higher than in Italy.
The surge is taking a toll on the country's hospitals, with some warning that intensive care beds are nearing capacity. Almost all 70 beds in the southern region of Bouches-du-Rhône are currently occupied, officials say.
But the number of patients in intensive care - 473 as of Friday - is still far fewer than at the peak of the outbreak.
Over the weekend, Health Minister Olivier Veran warned that more people would be admitted to intensive care over the next two weeks. "It will not be massive but there will nevertheless be an increase in the number of severe cases," he said.
But he ruled out a new nationwide lockdown. “I cannot envision a general lockdown. The lockdown was a lid on an overflowing cooking pot,” he told BFMTV.(FA)