France Sets New Record For Highest Daily COVID-19 Infections In Europe, Reaching 179.807 Cases

Illustration of a French COVID-19 vaccination center. (Wikimedia Commons/Claude Truong-Ngoc)

JAKARTA - France reported a record high of 179.807 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in a 24-hour period on Tuesday, one of the highest single-day tallies worldwide since the start of the pandemic.

This is the highest number of new daily infections in Europe, according to data on Covidtracker.fr. France's previous record of 104.611 was set on Saturday, following a high of 86.852 on November 11, 2020, broken with two straight days of more than 90.000 new cases per day at the end of last week, citing Reuters December 29.

Meanwhile, the seven-day moving average of new cases in France, which smooths out daily reporting irregularities, rose to a new all-time high of 87.500. On Sunday and Monday, the health ministry reported only about 30.000 new cases per day.

Despite the spike in new cases, the number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 remains well below record levels, with COVID-19 patients in intensive care rising by 83 to 3.416 on Tuesday, well below the high of more than 7.000 in early April. 2020.

In addition, France also announced 290 new deaths from COVID-19, for a total of more than 123.000, the highest one-day death toll since early May, but well below the death toll seen late last year.

Illustration of COVID-19 in France. (Wikimedia Commons/Jacques Paquier)

About 77 percent of France's population is currently fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which has sharply reduced the number of hospitalizations and deaths.

As for the COVID incident rate, the number of new cases per week per 100.000 residents, rose to more than 900, the highest since the start of the epidemic and nearly double the rate seen during the third wave in November 2020.

New policy

Earlier this week, the government announced new measures to curb infections, including limits on the size of large gatherings, a ban on eating and drinking in the transportation system, and mandatory wearing of masks again outdoors.

Faced with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, France will further tighten its COVID-19 measures, but there will be no curfew for New Year's Eve and schools will reopen as planned in early January, the government said Monday.

Prime Minister Jean Castex said current conditions meant his cabinet needed to take new steps to deal with infections.

Starting Monday and over the next three weeks, all public gatherings will be limited to 2.000 people for indoor events, and 5.000 people for outdoor events, and all audience members must be seated at the concert.

Consumption of food and drink will be prohibited on public passenger transport - including long-distance transport, as well as in cinemas, while in bars and restaurants all food and drink must be consumed sitting, not standing. Masks are mandatory for public transport passengers.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex. (Wikimedia Commons/Florian DAVID)

PM Castex also said working from home would become mandatory for at least three days per week if possible, and the use of masks would become mandatory again outdoors in the city center, under local prefectural authorities.

"I know it feels like an endless film, but a year ago we started our vaccination campaign and now we are one of the best vaccinated and protected people in the world," said PM Castex at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

To further boost vaccination, the government's planned vaccine permit, which would require proof of vaccination, not just a negative test, to enter public places - will take effect from January 15, if parliament approves the government's bill, Castex said.

The government also narrowed the period until people qualify for the booster injection to three months from four months after their second injection.

To note, since the start of the pandemic, only the United States and India have reported an average daily new case of over 200.000. As of Monday, the United States reported more than 505.000 new cases of COVID-19.

The UK on Tuesday reported a record 129.471 new cases of COVID-19, but the data excludes figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland due to differences in reporting practices over the Christmas holiday period.