Friday's number of new infections was slightly lower than the 45,641 cases reported the previous day.
With 4,465,956 Covid-19 cases, France is the fifth-worst hit country in the world in terms of total infections, behind the US, Brazil, India and Russia.
#Vaccination #COVID19 | Dès aujourd'hui, toute personne de plus de 70 ans peut se faire vacciner en centre de vaccination, chez son médecin ou dans sa pharmacie.
— Ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé (@Sante_Gouv) March 27, 2021
🔎Qui peut se faire vacciner & où ? https://t.co/qjxWFk1BHI pic.twitter.com/ldbqndBrh1
The number of people in intensive care units (ICU) continues to rise, with 4,766 patients nationwide, according to the health ministry.
Overall numbers are approaching the level seen in October/November last year, when France went into its second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic.
'In intensive care, we have 22 patients occupying our 22 beds and we still have patients with severe or very severe cases arriving in ambulances every day,' says a doctor in Cambrai, northern France, as the country grapples with a third wave of COVID-19 https://t.co/vRzk9KcNwB pic.twitter.com/fSLGkc3oCW
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 27, 2021
Ten million vaccines
From Saturday, people of over the age of 70 who suffer from multiple illnesses will now be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine – however many are likely to have to wait as the amount of available doses is still limited. The delay has caused long waiting lists at vaccination hotspots such as pharmacies, general practitioners and municipal vaccination centres.
France on Friday passed the 10 million vaccination mark, according to Minister of Health Oliver Véran. More than 7.5 million have received their first injection and over 2.6 million have received the second shot.
90,000 police
This weekend, some 90,000 police and gendarme have been mobilised in affected departments to see that tighter restrictions imposed last week are respected. Since Friday, controls have intensified at railway stations, airports and toll roads.
Since Thursday, the list of departments facing harsher restrictions grew to 19, after Nièvre, Rhône and Aube were added.
Measures include a movement limit of 10 km, a ban on inter-regional travel without major cause, a closure of non-essential shops and departments within larger shops that sell non-essential items, and 50 percent home schooling for high school pupils.
