PARIS (Reuters) – The number of people in intensive care units with COVID-19 in French hospitals has risen by 66 to 4,353, a new 2021 high, the health ministry reported on Saturday.
In a separate statement, the ministry said that by Saturday 6.14 million people had received a first COVID-19 vaccine shot, or 11.7% of the adult population.
It also published data for Friday after technical problems prevented the release of its daily report.
The number of new positive cases of COVID-19 rose by 35,088 on Friday to 4.22 million, following an increase of 38,501 the previous day, while the cumulative death toll rose by 285 to 91,964, compared with a rise of 268 on Thursday.
The comparable figures for Saturday were not available.
Nearly a third of French people entered a month-long lockdown on Saturday as the government aims to contain the spread of the virus in the Paris region and parts of northern France.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Jean-Michel Belot. Editing by Mark Potter)
