French authorities said on Thursday that 365 people had been killed by the novel coronavirus within 24 hours, taking the hospital death toll to 1,696. Nearly a quarter of a million French people have also been fined for flouting the government’s strict instructions to stay at home amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Thursday. “Police have fined more than 225,000 people for non-respect of the confinement measures,” Mr Castaner told France 2 television, adding that some 3.7 million police checks had been carried out since the full lockdown came into force on March 17.