France has registered a national and European record for new coronavirus infections as the Omicron variant fuels a surge in cases across the continent, with multiple countries hitting new highs.
France on Wednesday reported 208,000 cases in the previous 24 hours, up from its previous record of almost 180,000 set the day before.
“This means that 24 hours a day, day and night, every second in our country, two French people are diagnosed positive for the coronavirus,” said the health minister, Olivier Véran. “We have never experienced such a situation,” he said, calling the increase “dizzying”.
He said the situation in France’s hospitals was already worrying because of the Delta variant. Although the “massive wave” of Omicron cases had yet to have an impact on the healthcare system, he said it would inevitably do so eventually.
