PARIS: The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units in France fell below 1,000 for the first time since end September 2020, after rising to over 6,000 in April, French health ministry data showed on Wednesday.

The ministry reported 997 people in ICU with the virus, down by 35 on Tuesday.

Late June, a months-long fall in the number of average daily new infections bottomed out at just over 1,800 a day but since then the trend has reversed and average daily new cases are above 2,500 again, but hospital numbers remain on a downward trend.