PARIS:

 France will need a law requiring insurers to offer businesses coverage for losses linked to future pandemics, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday.

“The state is not going to pick up the tab for businesses’ operating losses each time there’s a new pandemic,” Le Maire said in an online interview session with Le Monde newspaper.

“Insurers are going to have to get involved and it’s not going to be a voluntary involvement. We need a law setting up a new pandemic insurance system,” he added.