PARIS (Reuters) – France has become the sixth country in the world to report more than 10 million cases of COVID-19 contamination since the start of the pandemic, according to official data released on Saturday.
The bar of 200,000 new cases of COVID-19 was crossed in the territory for the fourth consecutive day, with 219,126 cases reported by health authorities.
France joins the United States, India, Brazil, Great Britain and Russia, which, like it, have recorded more than 10 million cases.
Public health France reported on Friday 232,200 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the space of 24 hours, a new record, while the Omicron variant, considered highly contagious, continues to spread rapidly.
President Emmanuel Macron said in his wishes to the French for 2022 that the coming weeks would be difficult on the health front.
Large cities such as Paris and Lyon have once again introduced the wearing of a compulsory mask outdoors.
According to a decree published this Saturday in the Official Journal, the obligation to wear a mask will be extended to children from the age of six, and no longer 11, in certain public places from Monday.
The number of resuscitated patients in France was 3,560 on Saturday, up 17 from the day before. Since the start of the pandemic, 96,770 people have died in hospital, or 110 more in 24 hours. The total death toll is 123,851.
(Report Benot Van Overstraeten and Elizabeth Pineau)