PARIS (Reuters) – France reported that its total number of coronavirus cases jumped over 500,000 for the first time, as it registered 15,797 new confirmed cases on Friday, just shy of a daily record of 16,096 set on Thursday.

The total number of cases now stands at 513,034, health ministry data showed.

The number of people who have died from the infection increased by 150 – triple the daily levels of the past week – to 31,661.

(Reporting by GV De Clercq; editing by Diane Craft)

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