France recorded 4,611 more nCoV infections in a day, bringing the total number of patients to 37,575, of which 2,314 died.

The French government added that 4,273 Covid-19 patients were in intensive care. Deaths count only those who died in a hospital, not in nursing homes and at home, while only those who were thought to be at high risk were tested. As a result, the number of people infected and dying is likely to be higher than the reported number.

"I want to talk about the situation clearly and frankly. The war has just begun. The first 15 days of April will be even harder than the last 15 days," French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in a statement. news conference.

He added that the two parallel goals of France were to enhance the ability of special care for patients and to "smooth the curve" on the graph of the extent of nCoV's spread.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said the country would step up testing in the coming weeks, pledging to conduct 50,000 traditional tests and 30,000 rapid tests until the end of April.

Veran said that after ordering 5 million quick test kits, by June France could perform 100,000 tests a day, adding that they had also ordered one billion medical masks, mostly from China.

France has been frozen since March 17 in an effort to prevent the pandemic from spreading. Officials repeatedly stressed the measures took time to get results. Prime Minister Philippe said on March 27 that the blockade would last for two more weeks, until April 15 due to the pressure of the crisis.