The number of cumulative known deaths from coronavirus in France surged to nearly 5,400 on Thursday as the country started including fatalities in nursing homes in its data.

Jerome Salomon, head of the public health authority, said the number of coronavirus-related deaths in hospitals rose 12% on Thursday to 4,503 from a day earlier.

He added that a provisional tally showed that a cumulative 884 people in total had died in nursing homes. This makes for a total of 5,387 lives lost to coronavirus in France.

Salomon said the number of known infections rose to 59,105 from 56,989 in France. The number of patients requiring life support rose to 6,399 from 6,017 on Wednesday.

Reuters