French health authorities have said the number of patients hospitalised for Covid-19 over the past 24 hours has jumped from 467 to 21,073, the highest daily rise since Feb 1, reports Reuters.

On a week-on-week basis, the hospitalisations figure is up 1.8 per cent and it has been now increasing for the fifth day running, after a steady decline since early February.

Covid-19 infections have been rising again since early March, with the seven-day moving average of new cases at a six-week high of 127,488. Generally, such a trend inversion translates into hospital figures with a two-week delay.