France has recorded 4005 new COVID-19 infections, the smallest rise since August, but a downward trend in hospitalisations has slowed, suggesting the country is not out of the woods.
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President Emmanuel Macron said last week that a lockdown could be lifted on December 15 if by then the number of new infections per day fell to 5000 and the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care declined to between 2500 and 3000.
The second national lockdown since October 30 was loosened at the weekend with the reopening of all shops.
The number of new infections reported tends to drop on Mondays because fewer tests are done on Sundays. The seven-day moving average of daily new infections stood at 11,118, an almost two-month low.
The cumulative number of cases now totals more than 2.2 million, the fifth-highest tally in the world. November set a record for monthly new infections in France, at 854,863 versus 804,090 in October.
The number of patients in ICUs only fell by five to 3751 after a decrease of 22 on Sunday. But ICU numbers declined by 677 over the five preceding days.
Hospitalisations for the disease declined by 55 on Monday to 28,258 after increasing by 145 on Sunday and falling by a daily average of 473 between Tuesday and Saturday.
The number of people in France who have died from COVID-19 rose by 406 to 52,731, the seventh highest in the world.
Australian Associated Press