(Photo: AFP)

Paris (People's Daily) -- The COVID-19 epidemic has claimed 46 new deaths in French hospitals in the past 24 hours, 2 more than the day before.

The total number had risen Friday to 29,111 dead in the country since the start of the epidemic, including 18,761 in the hospital, according to figures released on Friday by the French Health Agency.

This assessment does not include deaths in social and medico-social establishments during the past 24 hours. These data will be updated on Tuesday, June 9.

In France, 12,696 people are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection, 405 fewer than the day before. Among them, 1094 are treated in the intensive care unit for a severe form of the virus. A figure down from Thursday, when it stood at 1163 (- 69).

The French Health Agency specifies that 153,055 people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the epidemic, including 611 in the last 24 hours.

The head of the French government’s scientific advisory council said on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic is now “under control” in France as the country cautiously lifts a lockdown imposed in March

But it also cautioned that at the height of the outbreak, patients with suspected COVID-19 infections were not systematically tested, meaning the actual number of cases exceeds the official estimate.