The number of new COVID-19 cases in France held below 10,000 for the second day in a row on Wednesday as pressure on hospitals eased further and the daily death toll dropped sharply from last week. The number of new infections is usually well below 10,000 on Mondays or the day after a public holiday, due to data reporting lags. But on Wednesday, the health ministry reported 8,743 new cases, down from 9,848 on Tuesday and the first time since September that new cases were below 10,000 two days running. On Monday, there were just 1,211 new cases, the lowest level for a Monday since mid-August. The ministry also reported that the number of people in intensive care units with COVID-19 fell by 71 to 2,754, getting closer to the 2021 low of 2,582 set on Jan. 7 and down from a 2021 high of 6,001 at the end of April. There were 96 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals on Wednesday, compared with 144 last Wednesday, ministry data showed. The total number of deaths now stands at 109,758, and the total number of cases at 5.68 million.