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PARIS — The number of people in intensive care units (ICU) for coronavirus infection in France fell slightly for the first time since the start of the epidemic, but the number of people dying in nursing homes jumped by more than 50 percent over two days, health ministry data showed on Thursday.

Health ministry director Jerome Salomon said that the number of people in ICU fell by 82 or 1.1% to 7,066, five days after that number started falling in Italy, which now has 3,605 people in ICU, down from a peak of more than 4,000 six days ago.

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“Our defense against this murderous epidemic is beginning to bear fruit, it is because of this that we need to continue confinement,” Salomon said at a daily video conference.

But in a sign that the epidemic is still raging through French senior citizen homes, ministry data showed that the cumulative toll there jumped by 929 deaths, or 52%, to 4,166 over two days after a technical problem prevented the registration of deaths in nursing homes on Wednesday,