France’s COVID-19 death toll reached 21,856, while hospitalizations and the number of patients in intensive care continued to fall, according to the official data released by the Ministry of Health.

A total of 516 people have died in the past 24 hours. At 29,219, the number of hospitalized patients fell for the 15th consecutive day. The number of patients in intensive care also fell to 5,053. A total of 120,804 people infected by COVID-19 have been identified in France since the start of the pandemic on March 1, the media report said.

On Thursday, while meeting with mayors from across the country, President Emmanuel Macron said that the relaxation schedule of the confinement rules would be specific to each region of the country, based on how hard the coronavirus outbreak had hit them, according to his office.

Macron also said the reopening of schools from May 11 would would be done on a voluntary basis.

Earlier, Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer had announced that schools would be reopened in several stages and with much smaller classes.

France extended its nationwide lockdown for another month in a bid to halt the coronavirus pandemic, as other hard-hit countries considered easing their measures with hopes rising that death rates may soon plateau.

Also on Thursday, the national statistics office INSEE said the lockdown had made the French economy function “like a person placed under anaesthesia”.

“The French economy can now perform only its vital functions,” said the office, adding that activity in the private sector, which makes up around three-fourths of total gross domestic product (GDP), had plunged 41 per cent overall.

Last Sunday, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned of an eight per cent GDP contraction this year, while increasing the government’s economic relief package to 110 billion euros (US $118.5 billion).

France has been in lockdown since March 17 in a bid to slow the spread of the epidemic and officials have repeatedly warned it will take time for the measures to bear fruit.

Meanwhile, the United States which is the worst-hit country in the world, saw a record number of deaths in 24 hours.

Around 3,100 people have succumbed to novel coronavirus in the US in 24 hours, while the death toll in the country is past 50,000-mark. The global toll has crossed 1,90,000.