The French army on Monday began to dismantle a field hospital set up at the peak of the coronavirus epidemic, with some intensive care beds to be sent to the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, AFP reports.

The hospital, said to be unique in peacetime France, was set up in the city of Mulhouse when the intensive care capacity in eastern France risked being overwhelmed.

Defence Minister Florence Parly said dismantling the facility, which had offered 30 intensive care beds, marked the “end of a stage” in the epidemic.

France on Monday began to relax its lockdown as the epidemic begins to slow, but officials warned that the danger remains.