France's COVID-19 death toll up to 25,531, hospitalization data on downward trend

As of Tuesday, 25,531 people have died of COVID-19 in France, with 330 new fatalities registered over the past 24 hours, official figures showed.

Of those infected, some 24,775 patients are hospitalized with symptoms, down by 773, while the number of critically-ill people, in a downward trend for nearly four weeks, decreased by 266 to 3,430, said the Health Ministry.

The confirmed cases were at 132,967, representing one-day increase of 1,104, higher than Monday's 576, but well below the 3,000 upper limit the government has set to reverse a decision to start to ease lockdown on May 11.

"Let's continue the collective effort to curb the epidemic. The scrupulous application of all barrier measures, compliance with the minimum physical distance of one meter and the drastic reduction of contacts are essential to successfully remove gradually the confinement," the ministry said in a statement.