Paris, April 22 : France, which plans to unwind some restriction measures from May 11, registered 531 more COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday as hospitalisation-related figures pursue a slow decline. Hospitals and nursing homes numbers showed that combined deaths caused by the COVID-19 rose to 20,796, up from Monday's 20,265, Director-General of Health Jerome Salomon told a daily briefing on the epidemic, Xinhua reported. The number of new hospitalisations and serious cases continued to slow down, suggesting that the national lockdown has positive effects in containing the respiratory illness. As of Tuesday, 30,106 patients were hospitalised, compared with 30,584 a day before and 30,610 on Sunday. The number of people in intensive care had fallen for the 13th consecutive day to 5,433. "The virus spread remains at high level. We should be fully mobilised," stressed Salomon. France has been in lockdown since March 17 to curb the spread of the epidemic. President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that the lockdown will be progressively lifted from May 11. The government will unveil details of the deconfinement plan in coming weeks. /IANS