Paris, Jul 27 (IANS): Nearly 60 per cent of the adult population in France have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, hitting the government's target previously set for the end of August, President Emmanuel Macron announced.

So far, France has administered the first dose to 40 million people, with 4 million citizens having received the shot in the past two weeks, Xinhua news agency quoted Macron as saying in a Twitter post on Monday.

"All together, we will beat the virus. We will carry on," the President added.

To date, some 33.26 million people in France have been fully vaccinated against the virus, nearly half of the country's 67 million inhabitants, according to the Health Ministry.

In a bid to return to pre-pandemic 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 centres, gyms and even hospitals except for emergencies.

Since the onset of the pandemic early last year, France has reported a total of 5,999,244 confirmed coronavirus cases and 111,667 deaths.