The number of people with the COVID-19 disease in French intensive care units rose by 17 on Wednesday to 4,651, setting a high for 2021 so far, health ministry data showed.
The health ministry also reported 65,373 new coronavirus infections, more than four times the number of cases registered on Tuesday, after including new data that was not accounted for in a timely way, the ministry said.
"It should therefore not be interpreted as an exponential increase in the number of daily cases, although a general upward trend is observed," the ministry said.
The number of deaths due to the COVID-19 disease was up by 248 over the last 24 hours, for a cumulative total of 93,180, the ministry said.
Since Friday, a third of France's population, including the Paris region, has been under a lockdown that is due to last four weeks. Experts say it takes around two weeks for restrictive measures to take effect.
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sonya Hepinstall)
