PARIS, April 2 -- France has registered 471 new fatalities from COVID-19 in hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 4,503, Director General of Health Jerome Salomon announced on Thursday.
A total of 26,246 people are now hospitalized, including 6,399 in intensive care, Salomon said at the daily briefing.
In addition, 14,638 confirmed or possible cases of coronavirus infection had been reported in accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (called "Ehpad" in French) while 884 deaths had occurred in social and medico-social establishments, said the health official.
This is a partial assessment for the moment, as not all establishments had been able to provide precise figures, he added.
Coronavirus deaths in nursing homes were previously excluded from the official count, which only took into account those died in hospitals.