World News | France Logs Record Number of New COVID Cases

Paris, Dec 29 (AP) France's Health Minister Olivier Veran announced that the country recorded a record high of 208,000 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.

Speaking at the National Assembly on Wednesday, Veran said the new figure is equivalent to two French testing positive every second, a surge fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.

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Veran warned those not vaccinated: “There is really little chance that this time you can escape (COVID-19). The virus is spreading too fast.”

France has vaccinated 77 per cent of its population and is rushing out booster shots. But more than 4 million adults remain unvaccinated.

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More than 3,400 COVID-19 patients were hospitalised in intensive care units on Wednesday, an increase by 10 per cent compared to last week.

Veran defended a government plan to allow only the fully vaccinated to enjoy continued access to places such as restaurants, cinemas, theaters, museums and sports arenas. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)