The rise continues.
This Thursday, Public Health France counted a total of 10,790 patients hospitalized due to a Covid-19 infection, as well as 48,416 new cases of contamination, a new record over the last seven days.
In hospitals, there were 10,558 patients on Wednesday, and 8,981 last Thursday.
Of the 10,790 hospitalized patients, 1,934 patients are treated in critical care.
They were 1,886 Wednesday, and 1,499 last Thursday.
Public Health France also recorded 103 new deaths linked to Covid-19, bringing the total of deaths in France to at least 120,000.
On the contamination side, the curve continues its rise that began at the end of November, with 48,416 cases recorded in the last 24 hours, against 49,610 on Wednesday, and 33,464 last Thursday.
More than 5 million deaths worldwide
In France, a first case of the Omicron variant, considered worrying by the WHO, was confirmed in a man residing in Seine-et-Marne, near Paris, detected on his return from a trip to Nigeria, announced Thursday the 'Regional health agency (ARS).
His wife, who accompanied him, has tested positive for Covid-19 and sequencing is underway to verify whether it is also the Omicron variant, which until now had only been identified in France on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
Two other French cases were reported during the day.
The United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined the growing number of countries that have confirmed at least one case of the new variant.
Read alsoCovid-19: the Omicron variant could become the majority in Europe "in the next few months"
The pandemic has killed at least 5,223,072 million people worldwide since the end of 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Thursday at noon.
The United States is the most bereaved country with 782,100 dead, ahead of Brazil (614,964), India (469,724), Mexico (294,428) and Russia (277,640).
