Cindi Cook
02 April 2020•Update: 03 April 2020
PARIS
France on Thursday reported 471 new deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the toll to 4,503.
According to Health Minister Jerome Salomon, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country reached 59,105, with over 6,000 of them under treatment in intensive care.
Salomon also revealed the fatalities in the nursing home, saying 884 senior citizens succumbed to the virus, known as COVID-19.
Funeral directors are overwhelmed in the hardest-hit areas as the number of fatalities continues to grow. In order to handle the situation in Ile-de-France, one of the buildings at the National Interest Market in Rungis (Val-de-Marne) was transformed into a morgue.
It is usually used for food storage but now it will house an estimated 800 to 1,000 corpses.
Ile-de-France currently registers 1,406 fatalities, as published by the regional health agency.
France is in day three of its second week of lockdown, with the nation confined until at least April 15, and only out allowed for essential trips, like shopping and medical visits.
After surfacing in Wuhan, China in December, the virus known as COVID-19 has spread to at least 180 countries and regions.
The global death toll has eclipsed 50,200 with over 998,000 cases worldwide, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. More than 204,600 have recovered.
*Writing by Dilara Hamit in Ankara
