New coronavirus infections in France remain on downward trend

French health authorities on Friday reported 11,221 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from 12,696 on Thursday and 12,459 last Friday in a continuation of an almost month-long downward trend.

The total number of infections rose to 2.29 million.

France also reported 627 new deaths from coronavirus, including 282 in hospitals, compared to 324 in hospitals on Thursday. Friday's death toll also included 345 new deaths in retirement homes over a three-day period.

The number of people in hospital with the virus fell by another 392 to 26,311 while the number of people in intensive care fell by 132 to 3,293.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that in order to end a nationwide lockdown on Dec. 15, the number of daily new infections needs to drop to 5,000 and the number of people in ICU to between 2,500 and 3,000.

At the peak of the second wave of the virus, on Nov. 7, France recorded a high of nearly 87,000 new infections over 24 hours. Since then, the number of new cases per day has been on a steady downtrend and the seven-day moving average of new cases stood at 10,348 on Friday, down by 2,074 compared to a week ago.