Daily Covid infections surge above 100,000 in France

A&E nurse Sonia Harrat takes a break while working on Christmas Day at a hospital in Marseille, southern France (Daniel Cole/AP)

France has recorded more than 100,000 coronavirus infections in a single day for the first time since the pandemic began.

Covid cases in hospital have also doubled over the past month, as the fast-spreading Omicron variant complicates the government’s efforts to stave off a new lockdown.