France sees new 2021 record for COVID-19 intensive care cases

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for COVID-19 patients at the Clinique de l'Estree - ELSAN private hospital in Stains, near Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - France reported 15,792 new coronavirus cases on Monday, more than double the 6,471 reported last Monday and the number of people in intensive care with the virus rose by 142 to a new 2021 high of 4,548, health ministry data showed.

The new cases pushed the cumulative total to 4.29 million and represented a week-on-week increase of 5.40%, the 14th consecutive increase in the week-on-week rate, which stood at less than 4% on March 9.

France also registered 343 new deaths, pushing the total COVID-19 death tally to 92,621.

(Reporting by GV De Clercq, Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Ed Osmond)