France's Constitutional Council approves extension of health emergency

France's Constitutional Council on Monday approved a bill to extend the state of health emergency to July 10, reported local media.

The Constitutional Council partially repealed two provisions of the bill to limit the number of people who can access personal medical data and to allow free and custody judges to review cases where patients cannot leave quarantine for more than 12 hours a day.

Coronavirus-linked fatalities stood at 26,643, after 263 new patients died in the last 24 hours in France, the fifth worst-hit country in the world in terms of human losses, while pressure in hospitals eased for nearly one month, showed health ministry's data on Monday.

More people died of the disease in the last 24 hours compared with 70 deaths reported on Sunday, the lowest daily toll in nearly two months, the data showed.