France sees nearly 7,400 new daily coronavirus cases in exponential surge

France reported 7,379 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, the most since lockdown, in what the health ministry described as an exponential surge just days before millions of children are due to return to school for the first time since March.

The daily tally was just shy of the record 7,578 high set on March 31, at the peak of an initial wave of COVID-19 infections that paralysed Europe. The surge has raised the possibility that the government could be forced to shut the country down again.

“We’re doing everything to avoid another lockdown, and in particular a nationwide lockdown,” President Emmanuel Macron told journalists earlier on Friday. He added it would be dangerous to rule out any scenario.

In a weekly review of the pandemic, the health ministry said the country was seeing an “exponential progression of virus transmission”.

So far, the rapid increase in case numbers has yet to lead to a similar surge in hospitalisations or deaths. The ministry reported 20 new COVID-19 deaths on Friday, raising the cumulative total to 30,596. The number of people in hospital with the disease was unchanged at 4,535 and the number in intensive care rose by six to 387.