French health authorities on Monday reported 8,505 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, sharply down from Saturday's record of 26,896 and Sunday's 16,101.
The Monday figure tends to dip as there are fewer tests conducted on Sundays. The seven-day moving average of new infections, which averages out weekly data reporting irregularities, stood above the 17,000 level for the first time since the outbreak, at 17,029.
The number of people in France who have died from COVID-19 infections rose by 95 to 32,825, versus 46 on Sunday. The cumulative number of cases now totals 743,479.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Chris Reese)
