France registered 10,593 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, setting a new daily record and pushing the cumulative number to 415,481, the health ministry reported on Thursday.

The previous high was 10,561 new cases in a day, recorded on Sept. 12. The sharp increase is a result of a higher infection rate but also of a massive increase in testing.

The government has made COVID-19 testing free, resulting in long queues at testing centres in cities across France.

The number of people who have died from the virus in France increased by 50 to 31,095, the second-highest number in two months following the 80 deaths reported on Sept. 11.