France's reports 483 new COVID-19 deaths

A man wearing protective suit and face mask leaves a supermarket after shopping in Nice, as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of COVID-19 in France. /Reuters

France on Sunday reported a daily COVID-19 death toll of 483, the highest number in more than three weeks.

The latest hike in daily fatalities comes even as the country's indicators point to a decline in the epidemic.

The vast majority of the new deaths (429) were in nursing homes, while 54 were in hospitals. Authorities did not provide an immediate explanation for the apparent spike in nursing home deaths.

The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital and in intensive care continued to decline, meanwhile. The health ministry said the number of people in hospitals fell to 19,361 from 19,432 and the number of people in intensive care units dropped to 2,087 from 2,132.

France is one of the worst affected countries globally by the COVID-19 pandemic, having reported more than 179,000 infections and over 28,000 deaths.

The death toll is the fourth highest globally, only trailing the US, UK and Italy.

Source(s): France 24