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FILE PHOTO: A nurse takes a break next to parking lot for ambulance at the Sud Francilien hospital in Corbeil-Essonne near Paris as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in France April 15, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

French mortality rate in May below previous years despite epidemic

PARIS: French mortality rates between May 1 and 18 were 6 per cent lower than for the same period last year and 1 per cent below the rate seen over that period in 2018, despite the coronavirus epidemic, statistics agency INSEE said on Friday (May 29).

During the peak of the epidemic between Mar 1 and Apr 30, French mortality rates were 26 per cent higher than the year-earlier period and 16 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2018, provisional data showed.

"Since May 1 ... we no longer (see) excess mortality compared to the two previous year," the agency said in a statement.

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