FILE - In this photo taken Monday March 23, 2020, a victim of the Covid-19 virus is evacuated from the Mulhouse civil hospital, eastern France. (Photo: AP)

Paris (People's Daily) -- France confirmed its latest COVID-19 death toll has surged to 1,696 after 365 people died in 24 hours. The number of confirmed cases has almost reached 30,000, said Jerome Salomon, director of France's public health agency, at a press conference on Thursday. 

Nationwide, almost 14,000 have been hospitalized for COVID-19, including 3,375 who remain in critical condition, said Salomon. So far, 4,948 people have been cleared and discharged from hospitals. The health director also said a 16-year-old girl died from COVID-19 on Thursday in Ile-de-France.

French media reported that a high-speed TGV train, normally used by travelers and tourists, had been designated to carry COVID-19 victims from the country’s heavily affected eastern region to hospitals in the west. 

On Thursday, over 20 COVID-19 patients were transported by train to a hospital in Pays de la Loire.