French Minister of Health Olivier Veran leaves the Elysee Palace after a cabinet meeting on the COVID-19 in Paris, France, on Feb. 29, 2020. France has confirmed 73 cases of coronavirus infection by Saturday noon and the government has decided to impose stricter measures to contain its spreading, Minister of Health Olivier Veran announced. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)

PARIS, Feb. 29  -- France has confirmed 73 cases of coronavirus infection by Saturday noon and the government has decided to impose stricter measures to contain its spreading, Minister of Health Olivier Veran announced.

Among the 73, a rise of 16 in less than 24 hours, 59 remain hospitalized, 12 have recovered and two died, the minister told a press conference after an exceptional cabinet meeting on the virus.

Many of the infections are related to clusters in two regions, l'Oise in the north and Haute-Savoie in the southeast bordering Switzerland.

In order to contain the spreading of the virus, all gatherings will be banned in these two regions - schools stay closed till further notice and residents are advised to limit their journeys and switch to working from home if possible, said Veran.

Across the country, "all gatherings of over 5,000 people in closed spaces" will be cancelled, as well as open-air events of similar scale, the minister added.

Sunday's final day event of the Salon of Agriculture in the French capital and Paris half-marathon have both been cancelled.

France remained at "stage 2" in the fight against coronavirus outbreak and the government will strive to push off "stage 3" as long as possible, the minister pledged.

France counts three stages in its epidemic plan, each calling for different and appropriate responses. Stage 2 starts when contamination are detected in several spots with clusters of infection while stage 3 means "epidemic proper" is officially declared as the virus circulates widely in the population.