French health minister says observing social distancing 'vital' to avoid new lockdown

France reported 14 new deaths from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, a figure twice as high as the daily average increase of seven seen over the previous week. A total of 30,223 people have now died of COVID-19 in France, health authorities said. 'We are not facing a second wave, the epidemic is continuing... Some people do not respect the rules. We must not let down our guard,' Health Minister Olivier Véran told LCI television.