PARIS: France's cumulative COVID-19 death toll has risen past 70,000, the health authority reported on Saturday, after 196 deaths were reported in the previous 24 hours.

The authority said 70,142 people had now died from COVID-19.

It also reported 21,406 new confirmed coronavirus infections over the previous 24 hours, up slightly from 21,271 on Friday.

The Health Ministry said 413,046 people had been vaccinated, up from 389,000 on Friday.