One Parisian is getting infected with Covid-19 every 30 seconds, while every 15 minutes there is a Parisian arriving in hospital as a result of the disease, health minister Olivier Veran has said, according to Reuters.

Veran made the comments to RTL Radio in response to demands by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to open up small bookshops and other smaller stores to try to keep commerce and social activity ticking over despite a new lockdown in France.

“We want to save the Parisians and the French people and we do that with determination and consistency,” he said.

Veran said any such move was too risky given the high Covid-19 infection rates in the French capital.