Santé Publique France listed 261 deaths linked to Covid-19 on Thursday in hospital in the past 24 hours, compared to 278 the day before and 167 last Sunday.
Since the start of the epidemic, 60,981 people have died in hospital for a total of 85,582 deaths in France.
25,403 new contaminations were recorded against 31,519 on Wednesday (with a probable catching up from the day before).
The level remains high.
The English variant of the coronavirus, more contagious, now concerns roughly half of cases.
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Some 3,430 patients are currently in intensive care in French hospitals due to Covid-19, a figure almost similar to that of the day before (3,436).
During previous waves of contamination, the number of patients in intensive care had reached 7,000 in the spring and 4,900 in the fall, but the situation in Dunkirk and the Alpes-Maritimes and in other regions is worrying.
"The virus is gaining ground" and 20 departments will be placed in "reinforced surveillance" with possible additional measures from March 6, the Prime Minister announced Thursday.
A total of 25,317 people are currently hospitalized because of the new coronavirus in the country, against 25,614 the day before.
1453 people were hospitalized in the last 24 hours.
Vaccine: 2.7 people received at least one injection
On February 24, the health agency recorded 51,440 new vaccinations in 24 hours.
1,398,984 people had already received the two doses of vaccine by this date, mainly that of Pfizer / BioNtech.
But 2,712,800 people received at least one dose of the vaccine.