PARIS, April 15. /TASS/. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in France has increased by over 2,500 in the past day and exceeded 106,000, while the death toll grew by 1,400 and climbed to nearly 17,000, the country's Director General of Health Jerome Salomon told a press conference on Wednesday.

"As of late Wednesday, a total of 106,206 coronavirus cases were confirmed in France," Solomon said adding that the death toll reached 17,617.

He noted that around 32,000 people remain hospitalized in France, and nearly 6,500 people are in intensive care. "In the past 24 hours, 263 people were transferred to intensive care units. The number of people transferred to intensive care units has been declining for the seventh consecutive day," the official said stressing that "the coronavirus epidemic is still in its active stage." "We should remain cautious," he said.

The self-isolation regime has been enforced in France since March 17 and will last until at least May 11.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 126,800 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 485,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.