The number of confirmed new coronavirus infections in France increased by 115, or 0.1%, to 144,921 on Sunday, the lowest daily increase since the country went into lockdown on March 17, the health ministry said in a statement.

But the number of patients in the hospital with COVID-19 increased slightly by seven to 17,185 after falling every day without interruption since April 15.

A health ministry official said that because of the long Ascension weekend in France, hospitals were slower in reporting their data and people were also staying in hospital slightly longer.