Paris: France records over half a million record COVID cases amid Omicron surge as France posted 5,01,635 new cases of coronavirus for the past 24 hours which is a new daily record and the first time the headline number has surpassed half a million.
The country is currently recording the highest daily infection rates of any major European nation, with an average of more than 3,60,000 over the past week. More than 30,000 people are in hospital with coronavirus across France in the highest such tally since November 2020, official figures showed.
But only a little more than 3,700 were in intensive care, less than during previous periods of high infection. The highly contagious Omicron variant that is fuelling the latest wave is believed to be less dangerous than the previous dominant strain Delta.
Some 364 people died of the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths from COVID in France to 1,29,489. The latest figures came after new COVID rules came into force in France on Monday.
