France reported that 4,709 people were in hospital intensive care units with COVID-19 on Thursday, an increase of 58 on a day earlier and a new 2021 high.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care is now close to the mid-November high of 4,919, though still well below the more than 7,000 people in ICU during France's first coronavirus lockdown in the spring of 2020.
The health ministry's Geodes website also reported 228 new deaths from COVID-19, down from 272 deaths on Wednesday. The deaths and cases tallies are set to be updated later on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the health ministry reported 65,373 new cases, the second-highest one-day tally after the nearly 87,000 on Nov. 7, but Tuesday's number had seen an unexpected sharp week-on-week drop.
The seven-day moving average of new cases is now at moer than 33,000 per day, the highest level since mid-November, during France's second lockdown.
Total cases stand at nearly 4.4 million, total deaths at over 93,000.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Nick Macfie)
