Covid-19 lockdowns sparked a big drop in the number of reported crimes in France last year, except for domestic violence and rape cases which continued to rise, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

As a result of “exceptional circumstances” brought on by the coronavirus epidemic, which prompted two lockdowns in 2020 and other restrictions, most crime indicators registered by police “dropped sharply”, the ministry’s statistics bureau said.

Rape and domestic violence cases, however, saw a third straight yearly increase, of 11 percent and nine percent respectively, from their 2019 levels.

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