France will continue to use AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine, the health minister said on Thursday, after a number of European nations halted administering the jabs due to concerns over blood clots.

After Denmark, Iceland and Norway suspended AstraZeneca vaccinations and Italy halted a batch of the jabs, Olivier Veran said he had consulted with the French medicines agency which advised him against taking similar action.

He said the agency urged him to follow the EU drug regulator's ruling that AstraZeneca was still safe to use.

"There is no need to suspend AstraZeneca," Veran told a news conference.

The decision comes as France scrambles to boost its Covid vaccination rollout in the hope of avoiding a third lockdown.

Veran said the daily average virus infection appeared stable for France as a whole, but added it hid huge regional disparities.

The greater Ile de France region, which includes Paris, the northern region of Hauts de France and the southern Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region were the three biggest infection hotspots, he said.

Daily numbers of admissions into intensive care in the Paris region were now so high that hospital capacity risked being overrun.

A "critical level" of capacity could be reached by the end of March, Veran said.

Authorities were therefore preparing to evacuate "dozens or even hundreds" of intensive care patients away from the capital and its suburbs to other regions of France, Veran said.

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ASTRAZENECA