France reports more than 12,000 new coronavirus infections

A health worker, wearing a protective suit and a face mask, talks to a patient at a drive-through testing site for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in front of a laboratory in Thouare-sur-Loire near Nantes, France, September 29, 2020.

The French health ministry on Friday reported 12,148 new confirmed coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, lower than Thursday’s 13,970 and well below highs of over 16,000 seen last week.

The total number of infections since the start of the epidemic rose to 589,653.

France also reported 136 new deaths from coronavirus for a cumulative total of 32,155. The 136 deaths include 88 in retirement homes, a category which had not been updated in two days.

Last Friday it had already reported a death toll of 150 in one day, but that figure also included 95 deaths in senior citizen homes over several days, reported in one batch.

Hospital admissions for COVID-19 rose by 106 to 6,758 and intensive care admissions by 11 to 1,276, continuing an uptrend from recent weeks.