France reported 25,379 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, up from 20,489 on Tuesday but down from a December high of 26,457 last Wednesday.
French case data reporting swings strongly depending on the day of the week, with troughs often on Monday due to weekend reporting lags. In recent weeks, peaks often came on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
The seven-day moving average - which smooths out daily swings and which had hit a high of 54,440 on Nov 7 - fell by 154 to 15,015.
The health ministry also reported 283 new virus deaths in hospitals, from 345 on Tuesday, while the number of people in hospital with the disease fell again.
There were 24,741 people in hospital with COVID, from 24,904 on Tuesday, of which 2,616 people were in intensive care, from 2,625 on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Geert De ClercqEditing by Chris Reese and Chizu Nomiyama)
