France records 8,577 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours

9 September 2020, 20:07

France has recorded an additional 8,577 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours as cases in the country continue to rise.

France's Health department said 39 people died in hospitals of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest number of deaths since lockdown in mid-June.

Those being treated in hospital number 4,960, of whom 574 are in intensive care. The national coronavirus death toll since January has risen to 30,764.

Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that the country now has a cumulative incidence rate of 114.8 cases per 100,000 people over the latest 14-day period.

This marks a 105 per cent increase on the previous two-week window.

The French government has since stressed the importance on social distancing and hygiene in a bid to prevent more local lockdowns.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that people must be “collectively much more responsible and vigilant on isolating”.

French Health minister Olivier Veran said: "Despite the rising number of newly infected cases, we can avoid a second wave of the pandemic in our country."

Among those who have tested positive for the virus in France have been Kylian Mbappé, the France and Paris Saint-Germain football player, and Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France cycling race.

Across the border in Spain, cases are also rising at an alarming rate.

It is now the first western European country to record more than half a million cases.

There has also been a surge in infections as millions of children across the country return to school six-months off.

Figures from the health ministry show that the country has logged 49,716 new cases in the past week, along with 237 deaths.

In the UK, there have been eight more deaths and thousands of new infections in the last 24 hours.

A further 2,659 people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to new government figures. The UK otal death toll stands at 41,594.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, urged the British public to start taking the pandemic “very seriously again” or face a “bumpy ride over the next few months”, saying “people have relaxed too much".

And at Wednesday's government coronavirus press conference, Professor Chris Whitty explained that the UK is currently on a similar track to France in terms of infections, urging people to "act now" to prevent this.