France reports another 23,770 coronavirus cases, 348 deaths in 24 hours

France's Public Health Agency said that it has registered 23,770 new Covid-19 infections and 348 deaths in hospital.

The country has to date recorded a total of 3,130,629 COVID-19 cases and 74,800 deaths related to the disease, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

The Ministry of Health also said that 1,349,517 injections had been carried out since the start of the vaccination campaign, including 117,734 in 24 hours.

The regions of Ile-de-France, Hauts-de-France and Bourgogne-Franche-Comte said Thursday that the appointments for a first injection of the vaccine against COVID-19 would be postponed due to difficulties of supply of Pfizer doses.

With its gradual vaccination, France is racing to counter a resurgence in Covid-19 infections fuelled by more infectious variants, although many fear that doses shortfall and delivery delay may throw a spanner into the government's vaccination rollout.

The government is considering to impose additional measures in the coming days to halt the alarming surge in the new variants.

--IANS

int/