PARIS, April 8 (Xinhua) -- More than 10 million people have received a first COVID-19 vaccine dose in France, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday, pledging to quickly expand the vaccination rollout.

"We are a week ahead of the target I had set. It's a very good performance. France vaccinates a lot," Castex told reporters during a visit to a vaccination center in Nogent-sur-Marne, east of Paris.

"Now, we target 20 million (vaccinated people) and I have no doubt that thanks to this general mobilization, we will achieve it," he added.

The French government aims to administer 20 million jabs by mid-May and to inoculate a total of 30 million, or two-thirds of the adults in the country, by mid-June.

Since late December 2020 when France launched its vaccine rollout, 10,114,284 people have got the first shot of a COVID-9 vaccine, representing 19.3 percent of the adult population, and 3,484,006 have completed their vaccination, according to data released by the health ministry.

On Thursday, 343 more patients succumbed to the respiratory illness, bringing the death toll to 98,037.

After a seven-day rise, the number of people in intensive care units with COVID-19 fell by 24 to 5,705, while 30,555 patients were hospitalized, down by 349 in one day.

The health authorities also said that confirmed coronavirus cases surged by 84,999 due to a catch-up of missing data.

"The health situation remains extremely tense in our country. The virus is still circulating strongly with a very high incidence rate of 400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants," said government spokesman Gabriel Attal earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, "we have the first encouraging signs in the 16 departments where we had imposed restriction measures," he added.