New hospitalizations and intensive care admissions were down slightly on Wednesday, but hospital pressure remains strong.
The executive has not announced any new restrictions, but calls for remaining vigilant.
For its part, the EU has concluded a second contract with the Moderna laboratory for 300 million doses of vaccines.
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Despite the progression of variants, the dreaded explosion in the number of Covid-19 contaminations has not yet taken place.
No new restrictions were therefore announced on Wednesday, while the threat of a re-containment continues to loom, but the executive warns that the situation "remains so fragile that nothing can tip it".
According to the latest report from the health authorities, new hospitalizations and patients entering intensive care were down slightly, but hospital pressure remains strong.
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The main information to remember
In France, new hospitalizations are down slightly
No new restrictions, but the situation remains "fragile"
The European Union has reached an agreement to purchase 300 million additional doses of the Moderna vaccine,
Slight decrease in new hospitalizations
New hospitalizations and entries into intensive care of patients were down slightly over 24 hours compared to the day before, according to figures released Wednesday by the health authorities.
Hospitals received 25,929 patients with Covid-19, including 1,559 who arrived in the past 24 hours.
As of Tuesday, they were 26,195, including 1,857 new hospitalizations.
The intensive care unit counted 3,340 Covid patients on Wednesday, including 311 who had arrived since the day before.
Tuesday, they were 3,338 in intensive care (including 323 entries).
Over the last seven days, hospitals recorded 9,432 new hospitalizations in total, and intensive care units 1,733 (against 9,383 hospitalizations and 1,702 entries in shifts over the seven days ended Tuesday).
The number of new contaminations amounted to 25,018, against 19,590 the day before.
The epidemic has killed 311 people over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since the start of the epidemic to 83,122.
Status quo in restrictions
With these contaminations stabilized despite the progression of variants, the status quo continues in France: still no containment, but "vigilance" which "remains in order".
"The situation remains so fragile that nothing can tip it" and we could "pay dearly for any form of relaxation", assured government spokesman Gabriel Attal, Wednesday after the health defense council and then the council of ministers.
However, and as expected, he did not announce any new restrictions.
He praised "the very great responsibility of the French", who "have been able to thwart the prognosis", in particular those of many scientists who expected a worsening of the situation because of the appearance of variants of the virus.
Hospitals remain in high demand, however, as a note from the Directorate General of Health noted on Tuesday.
"The epidemic situation is worrying with the persistence of strong tensions in hospital services in the eastern regions, combined with a significant progression of the virus and the demand for healthcare in the western regions, in a context of circulation of several variants of SARS-CoV2 ", indicates the DGS in this note.
Some scientists are pessimistic in their forecasts, such as Inserm researchers who find that "the historical strain of SARS-CoV-2 is decreasing while the progression of the British variant is intensifying".
This much more contagious variant "could become dominant in France the last week of February or the first week of March, with large regional disparities", predict these researchers, in a study published Monday.
Vaccines: EU signs second contract with Moderna for 300 million doses
The EU announced on Wednesday an agreement to buy 300 million additional doses of the Moderna vaccine, accelerating the race for immunization as the UN secretary general called for a "global vaccination plan".
The new agreement, announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, covers the purchase of 150 million doses of the vaccine from the American laboratory Moderna, intended for delivery in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2021, with an option of 150 million additional doses in 2022.
The Commission unveiled the same day a plan to better monitor coronavirus mutations.
Called the Hera Incubator, this project will be endowed with 75 million euros.
Some 150 million additional euros will be committed to strengthen research.
Mass vaccination in Brazil, Japan and South Africa launch campaign
Serrana, a small town in the state of Sao Paulo, began vaccinating its entire adult population on Wednesday, a first clinical experience with mass vaccination in Brazil, the second most bereaved country in the world by the coronavirus.
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This campaign, which concerns 30,000 of the 50,000 inhabitants of the locality, should make it possible to analyze the impact of immunization on the control of the pandemic, the second wave of which is currently shaking the country.
With the exception of the sick and pregnant or breastfeeding women, all the adult inhabitants of this locality must receive two doses of the CoronaVac vaccine in two months, the only one authorized to date in Brazil with the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca.
For its part, Japan has launched the first stage of its vaccination campaign, aimed first at protecting 40,000 employees in its medical sector.
In South Africa, the first dose of the batch of 80,000 vaccines from the American laboratory Johnson & Johnson was administered to a nurse at the hospital in Khayelitsha, a large township in Cape Town.
More than 2.4 million deaths worldwide
The pandemic has killed at least 2.4 million people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Wednesday midday.
After the United States (490,160 dead), the countries with the most deaths are Brazil (242,090), Mexico (175,986), India (155,913) and the United Kingdom (118,195).