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France again reports more than 10,000 new daily COVID-19 cases

Testing site for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) near Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - France on Tuesday registered more than 10,000 new confirmed coronavirus infections over 24-hours, for the sixth time in 12 days.

The health ministry reported 10,008 new cases on Tuesday, compared to 5,298 on Monday - which usually sees a dip due to weekend data delays - and 10,569 on Sunday. But this was below the 13,498 record high set on Saturday. The new cases pushed the total to 468,069.

The ministry also reported the number of deaths increased to 31,416, an increase of 78, compared to a seven-day moving average of 60 deaths per day.

Hospital admissions data continued their steady climb of the past three to four weeks, with the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital up by 180 to 5,796.

The number of people in intensive care - which is the ultimate test of a health system's ability to cope with the epidemic - was up by 32 to 951, but remained far below peak levels seen early April, when it spiked at 7,148.

Mid-august, the number of Covid patients in ICUs fell to a low of 367.

Like many other European countries where the infection rate has soared in the past month, France is tightening limits on public and private gatherings in the areas most affected.

(Reporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Chris Reese and Jane Merriman)