France’s Covid-19 infections top 3mn

Paris, Jan 23 : France on Friday reported 23,292 more confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total infections to 30,11,257, showed the government data website.
The country’s Covid-19 death toll now stands at 72,647, 649 more than the previous day. Some 25,872 Covid-19 patients remain in hospital, including 2,912 in intensive care, up 173 and 36 respectively in one day, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The spread of coronavirus variants first detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa has been particularly scrutinized and a new investigation will be launched next week to assess their circulation, said the Health Ministry on its website.
A first investigation, based on positive tests for Covid-19 on January 7 and 8, found that the variant found in UK accounted for about 1.4 per cent of the total of these tests.
Health Minister Olivier Veran on Thursday evening said the government was in “a race against time to curb the virus spread” as the much more contagious new strains are spreading in the country.
He added that stricter measures, including a new confinement, would be implemented if the new variant would circulate further and pressure in hospitals mounted.