Paris, Mar 26 (IANS): French Health Minister Olivier Veran has announced "reinforced braking measures" in three more high-risk regions of Rhone, Aube and Nievre, in a bid to contain a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The epidemic situation is not good. The trend is on the rise almost everywhere in France even if the level of virus circulation remains different from one region to another," Veran warned on Thursday.

Starting from Friday midnight, outdoor gatherings will be limited to six people in these three departments, and daytime travel less than 10 km from home is allowed while those within a 30-km radius of a person's home require a signed document.

Inter-regional travel will be banned but schools will remain open with reinforced health protocol, according to the minister.

The new restrictions are set to last for at least four weeks, which officials hope will be enough time to ease pressure on hospitals while more people get vaccinated.

Last week, France imposed similar rules in 16 departments, including Paris and its surrounding areas to curb the spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants and relieve strained hospital system.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, France has registered 4,484,658 confirmed coronavirus cases and 93,535 deaths.

So far, 7,168,437 people in the country have received at least one injection, or 13.6 per cent of the adult population, according to data released by the Health Ministry.

Some 2,610,990 people have received two shots, representing 5.0 per cent of the adult population.

The French government aims to vaccinate 10 million citizens by mid-April, 20 million by mid-May and a total of 30 million, or two-thirds of the adults, by the summer.

It has already approved the use of four vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.