French COVID-19 cases, patient numbers and deaths fall further

The number of people with COVID-19 in intensive care units in France - the best measure of a health system's ability to cope with the virus - fell by another 49 to 3,447 on Tuesday, down from more than 6,000 at the end of April.

The overall number of people in hospital with the virus also fell by 271 to 19,430. Both numbers have been on a downward trend for several weeks.

The health ministry also reported 198 news deaths in hospitals from the virus, after the death tally fell below 100 per day for three days in a row on Saturday through Monday.

It also reported 23 new deaths in retirement care homes over the past four days, taking the cumulative death toll to 108,879.

The seven-day moving average of deaths fell further to 120, the lowest level since mid-October.

Following a bank holiday on Monday, the ministry reported only 3,155 new confirmed virus cases, taking the total to 5.61 million. Last week, the case count was revised downwards by nearly 350,000 to eliminate double counting of people who have been tested several times.

The seven-day moving average of new cases fell to a new 2021 low of 10,709, from more than 42,000 mid-April.