France fourth country to pass 10,000 coronavirus death toll

Wednesday, 8 April 2020 02:53 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

FILE PHOTO: A woman with a protective face mask walking past the Eiffel tower is pictured through rain drops on a car window at Trocadero square in Paris during a lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease - REUTERS

Paris (Reuters): France has officially registered more than 10,000 deaths from coronavirus infections on Tuesday, becoming the fourth country to go beyond that threshold after Italy, Spain and the United States, while the rate of increase of fatalities is up for the second day running.

During a news conference Jerome Salomon, head of the public health authority, said number of people who died from the disease in French hospitals had risen by 9% in a day to a cumulative total of 7,091, versus 10% on Monday.

But he added that including partial data about the number of people who have died in nursing homes, the total death toll from the disease rose to 10,328 from 8,911 on Monday, a rise of 16%, versus 10% Monday and 7% Sunday.