France's new COVID cases sharply down, hospitalisations up again

FILE PHOTO: A medical worker, wearing a protective suit and face mask, administers a nasal swab to a patient at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing centre in Le Bignon, France, December 22, 2020. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

PARIS (Reuters) - The French health ministry reported 4,022 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours on Monday, a figure three times lower as Sunday's 12,489 but higher than last Monday's 2,960 and the number of people hospitalised for the disease was up for the third day running.

France, which is accelerating its COVID-19 vaccination roll-out after being criticized for a snail-pace start, has now 24,995 patients treated for the virus, a high since Dec 22.