French police officers check vehicles in Wattrelos, French border city with Belgium, on March 18, 2020. As of Wednesday, France had registered 9,134 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 264 deaths, Jerome Salomon, director general for health at the Health Ministry, announced here on Wednesday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

PARIS, March 18  -- As of Wednesday, France had registered 9,134 confirmed coronavirus cases and 264 deaths, Jerome Salomon, director general for health at the Health Ministry, announced here on Wednesday.

Eighty-nine people died in the past 24 hours. A total of 3,626 people are now hospitalized, including 921 in reanimation. Half of the patients are younger than 60-years-old, while seven percent of those who lost their lives were younger than 65, said Salomon.

"We have an epidemic that worsens very rapidly," said Salomon, urging people to stay at home as much as possible as required by the confinement order that went into effect at midday on Tuesday.

French people can now go out only for food, health treatment or work. Some 100,000 police and gendarmes have been deployed to enforce these measures. Offenders may be fined up to 135 euros (147 U.S. dollars).

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that the government had presented a bill on establishing a "state of health emergency," which, if adopted by parliament, would give the executive more power to limit freedoms, enforce confinement and requisition goods and services necessary to fight the pandemic.

The last time France went into a state of emergency was on Nov. 13, 2015, when former President Francois Hollande declared it for security reasons in the face of a terrorist threat. Originally supposed to last three months, it was extended six times before ending on Nov. 1, 2017.