French daily COVID cases set new record at almost 27,000

People wearing protective face masks walk in a busy street in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - The number of new coronavirus infections in France jumped over 26,000 in one day for the first time since the start of the epidemic, health ministry data showed on Saturday.

The ministry reported 26,896 new infections, taking the cumulative total to 718,873 since the start of the year. The number of deaths from the virus increased by 54 to 32,684.

(Reporting by John Irish and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)