Paris, May 21 (IANS): All adults in France will be eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccines from May 31, two weeks earlier than an initial schedule for June 15, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced.

"We have decided to speed up vaccination... Not a single dose should be wasted," Castex said while visiting a vaccination centre near Paris on Thursday.

"Health indicators continue to improve. The incidence rate and the number of patients in intensive care continue to decrease. In order to consolidate this improvement even more, it's necessary to vaccinate.

"We need to have the highest possible vaccination rate and it is within our reach," Xinhua news agency quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

More than 22 million people in France have got a first injection, or 42 per cent of the adult population.

Some 9.42 million people have received both shots, meaning that 17.9 per cent of those aged over 18 have completed their inoculation, data from the Health Ministry revealed.

Under the government's current plan to gradually relax the confinement measures, which started from Wednesday, a maximum of six people per table are allowed to be served on restaurant and cafe terraces.

Museums, theatre, cinemas and sports facilities can now reopen to a maximum of 800 people indoors and 1,000 outdoors.

France has reported a total 5,979,099 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began last year, with 108,343 deaths.