A further 365 people have died in France (Picture: EPA/ AFP)

A further 365 people have died from coronavirus in France, bringing the country’s death toll to 1,696, French authorities have said.

It is believed to be the country’s biggest daily rise in deaths caused by the virus. There are now 29,155 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the nation, compared to 25,233 a day ago.

There are 13,904 people hospitalised and 3,375 in intensive care, French authorities added.

France became the fifth country whose death toll from coronavirus had topped 1,000 just two days ago. It prompted a government body to call for the nationwide lockdown, imposed on March 17, to be increased from 15 days to at least six weeks.


The country’s death toll is now at 1,696 (Picture: AFP)

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There are 3,375 people in intensive care in France (Picture: EPA)

Today the French government formally authorised the use of chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, in the treatment of hospitalised coronavirus patients – despite clinical trials for the drug not being completed.



A new decree allows the drug be used, either alone or with antibiotics, after a doctor championed the treatment. Professor Didier Raoult, head of a university hospital institute in Marseille, said he had treated 25 patients with chloroquine, and after six days only one in four still had the virus in their bodies.

This was compared to patients who had not taken the drug, of whom 90% were still infected.

French authorities had previously wanted to wait until clinical trials had been completed, due to side effects chloroquine can have. Dr Raoult thanked the government ‘for listening’, once the decree for its use was published.

The use of chloroquine has now been authorised (PIcture: AFP)

US President Donald Trump has also been hailing the drug as a treatment for Covid-19. It is currently undergoing clinical trials in the US.

The number of coronavirus cases in Europe has now topped 250,000, with more than half of the number from hard-hit Italy and Spain.

Today a further 662 people died in Italy from the virus, pushing the country’s death toll to 8,165. Spain’s death toll rose by 738, meaning 3,434 people have now died in the nation.