PARIS (Reuters) – France reported on Saturday that 5,273 people were in intensive care units (ICUs) for COVID-19, an increase of 19 from the previous day, as the country entered the third national blockade to help combating the pandemic.
The government has tried to keep the lid on new COVID cases with regional shutdowns and measures, but from Saturday and for the next four weeks, non-essential schools and businesses across the country will remain closed.
The rise in intensive care patients on Saturday followed a much larger jump the day before – the highest in five months at 145. President Emmanuel Macron has promised more hospital beds to care for critically ill COVID-19 patients .
Macron hoped to lift France out of the pandemic, without the need to impose a third national stalemate that would continue to hit an economy that is still spinning due to last year’s fall.
But new strains of the virus have swept across France and much of Europe amid a slower release of COVID vaccines in the European Union than in some countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
Reporting by Sarah White and Blandine Henault; Montage by Gareth Jones; Montage by Gareth Jones