Over 20,000 new confirmed Covid cases were registered in France on Wednesday for the first time since 25 August, as the fifth wave of the coronavirus crisis accelerated.

The country’s health ministry reported 20,294 new cases, bringing the total to 7.33 million, Reuters reports, and the seven-day moving average of new cases to over 12,400.

The Covid-19 incidence rate in France – measuring the number of new cases per 100,000 people per week – further increased to 129. That said, this was far below numbers reported in neighbouring nations including Germany, Britain and Belgium where rates are much higher.

In addition, the number of Covid patients in hospitals throughout the country increased by more than 10% week-on-week for the second consecutive day to total 7,663. The number of patients in intensive care units rose to 1,300, the third straight day of double-digit week-on-week increases.

Moreover, France also reported 56 new coronavirus fatalities, to take the total to over 118,000.

A spokesperson for the government, Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday that the country is tackling a fifth wave of infections, adding no additional restrictions are planned for the time being. France’s government is hopeful a high vaccination rate will curb the number of people requiring hospital admission.

Nevertheless, the government’s top scientific adviser Jean-Francois Delfraissy stated authorities could once again have to ask businesses to focus more on working from home. He said on Wednesday: "I remain cautiously optimistic...We have the tools to limit the impact of this fifth wave but it is going to be difficult with a hospital system which is tired," Delfraissy said, predicting that daily Covid hospitalisations could increase to 1,000-1,200 a day by early December.