Covid-19: France breaks single-day record with 16,972 new cases

According to the agency’s daily statistical update, the latest rise is a significant jump from the 12,148 new positive tests reported on Friday. France’s Covid-19 tally now stands at 606,625.

France has broken its national single-day record for new Covid-19 cases on Saturday after the country’s Public Health Agency recorded 16,972 positive tests over the past 24 hours.

A health worker, wearing a protective suit and a face mask, prepares to administer a nasal swab to a patient at a testing site for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) installed in front of the city-hall in Paris, France. (Reuters)

According to the agency’s daily statistical update, the latest rise is a significant jump from the 12,148 new positive tests reported on Friday. France’s Covid-19 tally now stands at 606,625.

Forty-nine more people have died over the past 24 hours due to complications from the infection, raising the country’s Covid-19 death toll to 32,198, the agency said.

The previous record of 16,096 new cases on a single day was set on September 24.

Tougher social distancing measures have been introduced in several French cities over recent weeks, including Marseille and Lyon, in an attempt to curb the country’s second wave of Covid-19.

On Thursday, French Health Minister Olivier Veran warned that additional measures, such as the closure of bars, could also be imposed in Paris.