Coronavirus death toll tops 28,000 in France

Paris, May 18 (IANS) With 483 additional coronavirus-related deaths registered on Sunday, France saw its overall toll of the epidemic rise to 28,108, the Health Ministry said. Hospitals reported 54 new deaths while retirement homes, which represent a third of the country's total fatalities, reported a one-day rise of 429 deaths, Xinhua news agency reported. The number of people in hospital with coronavirus infection fell to 19,361 from 19,432 on Saturday, consolidating a continued decline now entering its seventh week. The number of people in intensive care reported a similar downtrend and fell by 45 to 2,087. A total of 142,411 people have tested positive for the virus since the outbreak and 61,213 patients have recovered. France cautiously eased the two-month lockdown on Monday to relaunch its battered economy. The first impact of de-confinement would be evaluated "within 10 to 15 days," Health Minister Olivier Veran told local newspaper Le Journal de Dimanche early Sunday.
--IANS rt/