PARIS, April 21. /TASS/. More than 20,000 people, diagnosed with COVID-19, have died in France since the start of the outbreak, top health official Jerome Salomon told reporters on Monday.

"Today, our country has crossed a symbolic, but very important benchmark of 20,000 deaths," he said. "By now, the country has 20,255 deaths from COVID-19.

The figure includes 547 people, who died in France in the past 24 hours.

He said that 12,513 people have died in hospitals, and 7,752 - in social care facilities, such as retirement homes.

According to the Santй publique France, a total of 114,657 cases of novel coronavirus have been confirmed in the country, including its overseas departments.

"On the entire territory, the number of patients in intensive care is on decline, but it is still high," Salomon said.

Since March 1, 37,457 people have been discharged from hospitals and are listed as fully recovered.