France reported more coronavirus-linked deaths and cases on Friday, although a top health official said the respiratory disease caused by the new virus was under control.
"The epidemic is currently under control. The virus is still circulating ... but at a slow speed," Jean-François Delfraissy, head of the COVID-19 scientific committee set up by the government, told France Inter radio.
The coronavirus death toll rose by 46 to reach 29,111, which is the fifth-highest total in the world.
The number of confirmed cases rose by 0.4% to 153,055.
According to Reuters calculations, if probable cases of coronavirus in care homes are added, France's total number of cases stands at more than 189,000, the eighth-highest tally in the world on that basis.
The ministry said the number of people being treated in hospital for COVID-19 fell by 405 to 12,696. At the peak of the outbreak in mid-April that number reached 32,292.
The number of people in intensive care fell by 69, or 5.9%, to 1,094, its steepest decline in percentage points in almost a month.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Chris Reese and Alex Richardson)
