Paris hospitals to reach saturation point within 48 hours after COVID-19 spike

Hospitals in Paris and around the city, which have accepted over a quarter of more than 29,000 confirmed COVID-19 patients in the country, will reach their saturation point within the next 24 to 48 hours, Frederic Valletoux, the head of the French Hospital Federation, said on Friday.

On Thursday, Jerome Salomon, the head of France's public health service, said that the number of coronavirus cases in the country had reached a total of 29,155 after rising by 4,000 within 24 hours. The death toll is at 1,696.

"Ile-de-France clearly needs help because what happened in the Grand-Est (region) is happening in Ile-de-France, and we are today at the limit of our capacity. (We will be at the limit of our capacity) in 24 or 48 hours," Valletoux told the BFMTV broadcaster.

The official called for cooperation between the regions and hospitals to balance the burden on the healthcare system.

"If we leave each hospital cope by itself, each territory caught up in the epidemic cope by itself. We are heading toward unthinkable disasters," he said.

The World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. More than 532,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 24,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.