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France breaks single-day record with large coronavirus case surge

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France broke a single-day record for the largest number of new coronavirus cases Saturday as the country grapples with a resurgence of the disease.

Data from the French Ministry of Health updated Saturday showed that there have been a total of 719,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country since the start of the pandemic, an over 26,896 case jump in the total since the previous day.

There were also 54 more deaths, for a total of 32,684.

France is currently grappling with a new rise in coronavirus cases, leading the Health Ministry this week to order Lyons, the country’s third largest city, to close its bars.

Paris’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been heavily criticized by health care workers, who say the government’s roughly $10 billion investment in the hospital system has not been enough.

The country is facing a potential shortage of ICU beds, though when confronted by protesters, President Emmanuel Macron dismissed concerns over resources or staffing, saying the country situation is “a question of organization,” according to The Associated Press.

Tags COVID-19 Emmanuel Macron France Pandemic

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