The number of new coronavirus infections in France have jumped more than 20,000 in one day for the first time since the start of the epidemic, health ministry data showed.

The ministry reported 20,330 new infections, taking the cumulative total to 691,977 since the start of the year. In the past two days the ministry had reported more than 18,000 daily new confirmed Covid-19 cases.

The number of deaths from the virus increased by 109 to 32,630, the most in a week but below highs of around 150 seen earlier this month. The death toll figures can be skewed as the ministry often reports several days of senior citizen residence data in one batch

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