{"id":114028,"date":"2021-02-23T21:33:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T21:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=114028"},"modified":"2021-02-23T21:33:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T21:33:02","slug":"french-covid-19-intensive-care-patients-at-a-12-week-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/french-covid-19-intensive-care-patients-at-a-12-week-high\/","title":{"rendered":"French COVID-19 intensive care patients at a 12-week high"},"content":{"rendered":"
PARIS (Reuters) – France\u2019s number of patients treated in intensive care units for COVID-19 has gone up again on Tuesday, reaching a 12-week peak of 3,435 as regional officials urge for a ban on public gatherings and consider a partial weekend lockdown.<\/p> Unlike some of its neighbours, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious variants, hoping a curfew in place since Dec. 15 can contain the pandemic.<\/p>\n France ended its second national lockdown, which ran from Oct. 30 to Dec. 15. But one of the conditions for switch from lockdown to a national curfew was that the ICU figures remained between 2,500 and 3,000.<\/p>\n France reported 20,064 new COVID-19 cases, up from the previous Tuesday\u2019s 19,590.<\/p>\n The seven-day moving average of cases remained above 20,000 for the third day in a row, at 20,109, the highest since 20,466 on Feb. 5.<\/p>\n The northern French port city of Dunkirk is urging the government to impose a ban on all public gatherings there until March 15 as a \u201clast chance\u201d move to halt a spike in COVID-19 infections.<\/p>\n Dunkirk Mayor Patrice Vergriete did not advocate a partial weekend lockdown such as in the Mediterranean city of Nice, but added he would not oppose it if the government imposed such a measure.<\/p>\n Health Minister Olivier Veran will head to Dunkirk, between the port of Calais and the Belgian border, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The total cumulative number of cases in France rose to 3.63 million, the sixth highest in the world.<\/p>\n The number of people who have died from COVID-19 infections rose by 431 to 85,044 – the seventh highest death toll globally – versus a seven-day moving average of 319, a more than one-and-a half month low.<\/p>\n