Paris, Aug 8 (IANS): France has reported 2,288 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the biggest daily spike since the end of April. In the past week, France registered more than 9,330 new infections, bringing the country's total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases to 197,921, the health ministry said on Friday.

Since May 9, when the French government started a gradual de-confinement, some 787 clusters have been detected, of which 288 remained active. Over the past 24 hours, 21 clusters were identified, the ministry said on Friday, Xinhua reported.

"The indicators are deteriorating, confirming a more active circulation of the virus throughout the territory, especially among young people," the health ministry warned.

"We must strengthen vigilance, mobilise ourselves to respect barrier measures, common sense gestures in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic," it said.

As of Friday, the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients fell by 49 to 5,011, continuing a downward trend of two and a half months.

Currently, 383 people needed intensive care, 7 fewer than the number on Thursday, while 12 additional coronavirus-related fatalities were recorded, bringing the total deaths to 30,324.

French scientists expected a second wave of the coronavirus could hit the country in autumn or winter as a result of social mixing and absence of distancing and barrier measures during the summer holidays, local media reported.

They asked French authorities to anticipate all the possible scenarios and prepare a prevention plan for the country's most populated metropolitan areas, and to consider local lockdown according to the epidemic situation.