The number of people hospitalised for COVID-19 in France decreased on Friday for the fourth straight day and the average number of new daily infections fell to the lowest in more than a month.
These trends appeared to warrant French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to start unwinding the country's third lockdown starting from Monday.
The overall number of hospitalisations was down by 557 to 28,930 and the number of patients in intensive care wards fell by 129 to 5,675.
The health ministry reported 24,299 new confirmed virus infections, taking the total to 5.6 million - the world's fourth-highest - but increase of 3.2% over last Friday was the lowest week-on-week percentage increase since end July 2020.
The seven-day moving average of new cases, a closely watched indicator, is now down to just over 25,000, from a high of more than 42,000 mid-April.
France also reported 290 new coronavirus deaths, to 104,514, the eighth highest tally globally.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Richard Lough and David Gregorio)
