France fourth country to exceed 10,000 virus deaths

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 US, 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 per cent in a day to a cumulative total of 7,091, versus 10 per cent 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 per cent, versus 10 per cent Monday and 7 per cent Sunday.