PARIS: French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Tuesday the country's target of 5,000 new daily COVID-19 cases - versus 16,282 on Wednesday - could reached by the second week of December, which would allow a lifting of restrictions to continue.

During a news conference detailing how France's second national lockdown is about to be gradually unwound, Veran also said the reproduction rate of the disease had fallen to 0.65.