France has had 10,561 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, health authorities said today, a new daily record as the number topped 10,000 for the first time.
The latest daily count, surpassing the previous record of 9,843 new infections reported on Thursday, highlights a resurgence of the disease in France.
The rise led the government to outline additional measures yesterday to avert a return to the general lockdown put in place earlier in the year. Prime Minister Jean Castex promised steps to speed up tests and toughen local measures in high-infection zones.
Mr Castex warned there was a "clear worsening" in the country's outbreak, and that a recent increase in Covid-19 hospitalisations was particularly worrying.
However he did not announce any major new restrictions, shortening the quarantine period for people who catch the virus to just seven days from 14.
"We have to succeed in living with this virus, without returning to the idea of a generalised lockdown," he said in a televised statement from his official residence in Paris.
Mr Castex himself ended a stint in isolation after twice testing negative for Covid-19.
Fears were briefly raised after he spent part of last weekend with the boss of the Tour de France Christian Prudhomme, who tested positive for Covid-19.
In its daily update, the French health ministry also reported that 772 clusters were being investigated, an increase of 86 in the past 24 hours.
Over the past week, there had been 2,432 arrivals in hospital for Covid-19, including 417 entries into intensive care units, the ministry said.
The death toll since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak this year in French hospitals and nursing homes has reached 30,910, with 17 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, it added.
French 'yellow vests' tussle with police as Paris protests resume
The latest figures come as French police fired tear gas and arrested more than 250 people in Paris today as they tussled with "yellow vest" protesters seeking to revive an anti-government movement curbed by the coronavirus lockdown this year.
The "yellow vests", named after motorists' high-visibility jackets, emerged in late 2018 in protest against fuel taxes and the cost of living, posing a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron as demonstrations spread across France.
By midday today, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered at the starting points of two authorised marches in Paris.
While one cortege proceeded without incident, the other march was aborted as police clashed with groups who left the designated route and set fire to waste bins and a car.
Some protesters wore black clothes and carried the flag of an anti-fascist movement, suggesting the presence of radical demonstrators dubbed "black blocks" often blamed for violence at street marches in France.
The police repeatedly used tear gas to counter small groups of roaming protesters, before they dispersed towards the end of the afternoon.
Police had made 256 arrests by early evening, with many for carrying items like tools that could be used as weapons.
