France’s health minister has unveiled a map of coronavirus “danger zones” around the country and given the hardest-hit local authorities, including that of Marseille, days to tighten restrictions or risk having a state of health emergency declared there.

Olivier Veran told a news conference the country would be divided into zones by alert level with Marseille, the second-largest city, and the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe for now the only two areas put on the “maximum” alert level.

Paris and its suburbs but also the northern city of Lille, the southwestern town of Toulouse and six other cities were declared “reinforced danger zones”, Veran added.

“Should the sanitary situation worsen further in those areas, then a state of health emergency would be put in place”, the minister said.