French president calls on citizens to learn to live with COVID-19

Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA |   French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called on citizens to learn to live with the coronavirus after infections spiraled higher in recent weeks.

“To overcome the health crisis, we must learn to live with the virus,” Macron tweeted, calling on people to show unity and assume responsibility to contain the epidemic resurgence.

Macron said he had chaired a defense council over the epidemic situation “to organize with the best possible conditions taking into account the epidemic evolution,” the start of the new academic year and work condition, after social mixing during summer vacation had led to faster virus spread and increasing clusters.

The president pledged “clear rules everywhere to allow everyone to regain confidence.”

In the past 24 hours, France confirmed 3,304 new coronavirus cases, higher than Monday’s 1,955, but lower than the post-lockdown daily record of 4,897 posted on Sunday. Some 33 active clusters were detected, bringing the total to 352.

A total of 248,158 infections have been identified since the epidemic outbreak, according to the country’s Health Public Agency.

Health authorities said that France had conducted over 755,000 virus tests over the past week, and over 7 million since the start of the epidemic.

As of Tuesday, 4,600 patients are hospitalized, down by 90 from a day before. Meanwhile, the number of those who need intensive care rose by 11 to 410. Some 30,544 people in France have succumbed to the respiratory illness, representing a single-day increase of 22.

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XINHUA