France records more than 21,000 deaths from coronavirus

By Cindi Cook

PARIS (AA) - In his daily press briefing on Wednesday, France's Director General of Health Jerome Salomon reported some good news as the statistics of the coronavirus continued to decline.

There were 544 fatalities on Tuesday, with 350 of those in hospital and 194 in nursing homes. Since the start of the outbreak, the total deaths in hospital stands at 13,236 and 8,104 in nursing homes.

On Wednesday, 29,741 hospitalizations were reported, a drop of 243 from Tuesday. The number of those in intensive care fell to 5,218, a drop of 116 patients. The number of cases stood at 119,151.

Since the beginning of March when recording fatalities from the coronavirus outbreak in France began, 21,340 lives have been lost, while 40,657 people have returned home after recovering fully from the disease.

France will remain in lockdown until May 11, to last almost two months since its start on March 17.

Salomon also stressed that social distancing and barrier gestures must be adhered to since they positively impact our existence.

Worldwide, over 2.62 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded with more than 182,300 registered deaths. Recoveries have exceeded 706,700 so far, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the severity of the virus, most people experience mild symptoms and recover in due time.