60% French adults receive 1st COVID-19 vaccine dose

Nearly 60 percent of the adult population in France have got at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, hitting the government's target previously set for the end of August, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, reported Xinhua.

So far, France has administered a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 40 million people, with 4 million citizens having received the shot in the past two weeks, Macron wrote in a Twitter message.

"All together, we will beat the virus. We will carry on," the president said.

To date, some 33.26 million people in France have completed their vaccination, nearly half of the country's 67 million inhabitants, according to the Health Ministry's figures.

In a bid to return to prior-epidemic daily life, the French government has vowed to speed up vaccine rollout to bring down the coronavirus-linked infections and contain the spread of the more contagious Delta variant which triggered another wave.

Starting from early August, only people who have completed their vaccination, test negative or recently recovered from COVID-19 will be allowed to enter restaurants and cafes, go to shopping centers, gyms and even hospitals except for emergencies.