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HEALTH

Coronavirus patient numbers in France still falling as military hospital begins packing up

France on Thursday reported 516 new deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing its overall toll to 21,856, the country's health department said.

Coronavirus patient numbers in France still falling as military hospital begins packing up
Photo: AFP

But the number of patients in intensive care is continuing a two-week decline, it said in a statement.

“We nonetheless remain at an exceptional level, over and above maximum pre-crisis intensive care capacity in France” amounting to 5,000 beds, the health department said in a statement.

In the past 24 hours 311 people people have died in hospital, with a further 205 coronavirus deaths reported in nursing homes.

A majority of the deaths reported since the beginning of the outbreak (13,547) have been in hospital, with a further 8,309 in nursing and care homes.

Although hospitals across France are still receiving a steady stream of new cases the overall number of those who remain hospitalised with the virus continues to drop, underscoring an eight-day trend.

A total of 29,219 cases are now being treated in hospital, down 522 on Wednesday.

Since the start of the epidemic 42,088 people have left hospital, not taking into account the tens of thousands of people who recovered without being hospitalised, the health service said.

French authorities say the coming days are key if the country is to be able to meet a May 11th target to begin a gradual end to national lockdown measures imposed in mid-March.

The military hospital in Mulhouse, close to the German border. Photo: AFP

The fall in patient numbers comes as the military hospital set up in Mulhouse to take the pressure off hospitals in the worst affected Grand Est region begins to pack up.

One section of the hospital – comprising 10 intensive care beds with ventilators – has already been dismantled.

Another 20 beds remain operational, with 13 currently occupied, said army chiefs.

The hospital was set up in Mulhouse, where one of the earliest and worst clusters of coronavirus was detected, as local hospitals struggled to cope.

Hundreds of patients were also evacuated from the region, either airlifted over the border to Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg or Austria or taken by specially adapted train to other regions of France.

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HEALTH

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

Nearly 200 cases of cholera have been reported on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, which is struggling to contain the deadly epidemic.

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

“As of June 18th, 2024, 193 cases of cholera have been reported in Mayotte,” France’s Santé publique France health agency reported in its weekly update.

Of those, 172 were locally acquired cases, while 21 were in people infected in the neighbouring Comoros archipelago and countries on the African continent.

Cholera is an infectious disease typically causing severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It spreads easily in unsanitary conditions.

Mayotte, which is home to around 320,000 people, reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera in late April, according to officials in Paris.

Two people have died since the beginning of the epidemic, one of them a three-year-old girl.

Santé publique France warned there was a particularly high risk of transmission in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, “as long as access to drinking water and sanitation is unsatisfactory”.

French authorities have been criticised for failing to secure access to drinking water to prevent a cholera epidemic in its overseas territory.

President Emmanuel Macron called for cholera to be ‘consigned to the past’ when he hosted a summit on Thursday on vaccine production in Africa.

Many parts of Africa have recently seen fatal outbreaks of cholera, which has highlighted the shortage of local vaccine production.

The Comoros, which has been affected by a cholera epidemic for the past four months, has recorded 134 deaths and more than 8,700 cases, according to a report published by local authorities this month.

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