France now has 20 million first-time vaccines, while in hospitals, the number of patients in intensive care continues to decline.
Good news, while a further alleviation of sanitary constraints is planned for Wednesday with the reopening of shops, terraces and cultural places.
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If the variants of Covid-19, in particular the Indian variant, continue to raise fears, the health situation is gradually improving in France.
In the hospital, the number of patients in intensive care continues to drop day after day, while the vaccination campaign remains at a sustained pace.
20 million French people have received at least one dose of vaccine, which "reinforces the prospects for a way out of the crisis", according to Prime Minister Jean Castex.
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
The main information to remember
The number of patients in intensive care continues to decline
More than 20 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine in France
The epidemic has killed more than 3.3 million people worldwide
Hospital pressure continues to drop
The number of patients in intensive care units continued to decline to below 4,300, the number of hospitalizations as a whole also continuing to decline, according to figures from Public Health France on Saturday.
Critical care services now have 4,271 Covid patients, including 134 new admissions in 24 hours, against 4,352 on Friday and more than 5,000 last Saturday.
The total number of hospitalizations for Covid also continues to decline, with 22,950 patients on Saturday, including 580 new hospitalizations, against 23,406 the day before.
The disease has claimed 112 people in hospital in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 107,564 since the start of the epidemic (including 81,257 in hospital).
15,685 new contaminations were also listed on Friday.
The positivity rate is still down to 4.5%.
It was still 10% at the end of April
20 million first-time vaccinated in France
France crossed the threshold of 20 million people on Saturday who received at least one dose of vaccine.
"This reinforces the prospects for exiting the crisis which are also reinforced by the evolution of the data of the epidemic which is regressing everywhere" in France, declared the head of government Jean Castex.
The French government has set a target of 30 million first-time vaccinated in mid-June and has just extended vaccination to over 18s, without conditions, for doses available overnight
Bars and restaurants are preparing to reopen their terraces
While the vaccination campaign is in full swing, some of the bars and restaurants are preparing to welcome customers on the terrace from Wednesday, when cultural venues, cinemas, theaters, museums will also reopen, with reduced gauges, and where the curfew will pass to 9 p.m.
Impatient to get back to life before, the French are already reserving en masse for their lunches and dinners.
And the professionals are working hard to be ready on D-Day, but remain worried by the constraints of the health protocol.
Read our report from Strasbourg.
India: confinement in Bengal
The Indian state of West Bengal, particularly hit by the pandemic after mass electoral rallies in April, imposed a two-week lockdown on Saturday in an attempt to curb the contaminations.
This state, whose hospitals are overwhelmed, recorded 21,000 new cases of contamination out of the 326,000 reported in India on Saturday.
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More than 70,000 deaths in Argentina
Argentina surpassed the threshold of 70,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Saturday, while the average of new daily cases stands at more than 20,000, according to the authorities.
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, 400 people have died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 70,253.
More than 3.3 million dead
The pandemic has killed more than 3.359 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Saturday at 10 a.m. GMT.
After the United States (585,702 deaths), the countries with the most deaths are Brazil (434,715), India (266,207), Mexico (220,159) and the United Kingdom (127,668). These figures, which are based on on the daily reports of the national health authorities, are globally undervalued.