854 die from COVID-19 in France in 1 day

A total of 854 people lost their lives to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in France, bringing the total death toll since the outbreak of the epidemic to 38,289, showed data released on Tuesday by the health authorities, reported Xinhua.

This single-day death toll was the highest since April 15 and more than double Monday's 416.

In one day, 36,330 new infections were confirmed, bringing the accumulative total infections to 1,502,763.

The COVID-19 patients hospitalized increased by 1,122 to 26,265, including 3,878 in intensive care, up by 148 in a day.

Some patients in the northern region of Hauts-de-France would be transferred to Germany as well as other parts of France for treatment in the coming days, because hospitals in this heavily-affected region are under the pressure of saturation, said the country's hospitals federation.

France is on the fourth day of its second nationwide lockdown to stem the second wave of the epidemic. The authorities and experts had warned that, given the fact that symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus, it would take days or even weeks before epidemic indicators go downward thanks to the restrictive measures.

People in the country can go out only for work, health or family emergency, necessity shopping or one-hour exercise near their home. Non-essential businesses are closed, a move contested by some mayors.

Prime Minister Jean Castex criticized that these mayors "violate the rules of the Republic" by issuing orders authorizing the reopening of non-essential businesses.

"When the Republic is faced with the most serious health crisis in decades, we do not ask the mayors, servants of the Republic, to violate the laws of the Republic. It is not possible," said Castex when questioned by deputies at the National Assembly.

When asked about Paris' request to reopen bookstores, Minister of Health Olivier Veran told local TV channel RTL that "every 30 seconds a Parisian is infected (with coronavirus)" and "every 15 minutes a (COVID-19) patient is hospitalized in Paris."

To bring life back to normal, countries including France, Germany, Britain, China, Russia and the United States, are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.