Veran also slammed suggestions made by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, that bookshops and stores should remain open during the national lockdown to keep commerce going.
The health minister said that one Parisian is being infected with the virus every 30 seconds, and that one person is admitted to a Paris hospital every 15 minutes. His comments were followed by a statement by cabinet spokesman Gabriel Attal, who said the government is considering the reintroduction of a 9pm curfew in Paris, on top of the current national lockdown measures.
The minister warned that the ability to celebrate Christmas in France will depend on the success of the national lockdown and whether pressure on hospitals has decreased.
Veran reinforced the need for everyone to respect the month-long national lockdown and help fight the pandemic.
Speaking on Sunday, Arnaud Fontanet, a member of France’s Scientific Council, told RTL Radio that Covid-19 infections will drop by 65 to 80 percent over the course of one month and it will take two months to drop by 80 to 90 percent – by which time, the Christmas period will be upon us.
France registered 52,518 new infections on Monday and 416 fatalities. The nation is the fifth most afflicted country in the world by diagnosed Covid-19 cases, with 1,466,433 recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.
