France: Virus cases spike to 4,700 in a day

 France has reported a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus cases - 4,771 - up a thousand on Wednesday's figure.

It is the first time more than 4,000 daily cases have been seen since May.

Meanwhile Spain, Germany and Italy have also recorded their highest numbers of cases since late April or May.

Many of the new Spanish cases are reportedly among the young, while German cases are said to be driven by a lack of social distancing and travellers returning from abroad.

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The UK - which has Europe's highest coronavirus death toll - registered a further 1,182 cases on Thursday.

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Why are cases rising in France?

The number of confirmed cases has been accelerating since mid-August.

France has increased its testing capacity and carried out 664,000 tests over the past week, the health ministry said, but the rate of positive cases has also been increasing. It stood at 3.3% for the week between 11-17 August, up from 2.1% previously and more than double the 1.5% rate seen at the end of July.

Officials say the virus is now mostly circulating in major cities among the young, who typically do not have serious symptoms, and this is why the number of people being treated in hospital has not changed much.