Iran Press/ Europe: The health ministry reported 441 new deaths from COVID-19 in the country’s hospitals on Saturday - less than the high of 588 reported on Friday - for a total hospital death tally of 5,532.
For the third day in a row, the ministry also reported the cumulative tally of deaths in nursing homes since the start of the epidemic in early March, which were previously unreported.
This added another 2,028 deaths to the national tally for a total death toll of 7,560, an increase of 1,053 on the cumulative figure reported on Friday.
Previously unreported, nursing home deaths now make up nearly a third of total coronavirus deaths.
“This pandemic is totally unprecedented. It is imperative that people respect confinement, now is not the time to ease up,” health ministry director Jerome Salomon said at a daily briefing.
Salomon said that confirmed coronavirus infections in hospitals rose by another 4,267 cases to 68,605 - up 7% but slower than Friday’s 9%.
But he also said that the number of “confirmed or possible” cases in nursing homes rose by 20% to 21,348. Salomon did not give a breakdown between confirmed and possible cases.
Adding hospital and nursing home cases, France has a total of 89,953 confirmed or suspected cases. Epidemiologists say the case count is hard to compare to other countries as some have more extensive testing policies than France.
Salomon said 28,143 people were in hospitals with COVID-19 infection. That number showed a net 711 more admissions compared with the previous day after 2,111 people were discharged.
Worldwide, the total number of infections recorded since the beginning of the outbreak reached more than1,201,964. Some 246,638 people have recovered globally while nearly 64,727 have died.
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